Manchester United looked close to their best on Boxing Day as they thrashed Newcastle United 4-1 at Old Trafford. 

The familiar, haunting spectre of Matty Longstaff threatened to dampen the festivities with his second goal in successive games against the Red Devils. 

Yet the Magpies' hapless defending ultimately allowed Anthony Martial (2), Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford all to get on the scoresheet. 

Amidst all that, Paul Pogba also continued his recovery as he came off the bench for the second game in a row. 

Scott McTominay's knee injury saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer introduce the Frenchman at half-time. 

Prior to the Watford defeat, Pogba hadn't played since late September.

In the meantime, he's drawn attention to himself for the wrong reasons with fans speculating about his social media activity from around the world while he was ruled out through injury and illness. 

However, for every negative headline, the midfielder deserves full credit when he goes above and beyond to spread a hugely important message throughout the football world. 

United players were seen wearing anti-racism wristbands, with Pogba revealing afterwards that he had suggested the initiative. 

"It was my idea to do that," he said, via Sky Sports.

"I mean, I've been thinking about doing this but I don't want to go through the UEFA or the FIFA. I [have] done it myself.

"I think we have the chance to have this power to show things in football, on TV. People see it so I think that will make people understand some things." 

The 26-year-old gave his own wristband to a young fan in the crowd at the end of the game, a moment he captioned on Instagram with the Martin Luther King quote: "Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that #NoToRacismWeAllOne."

The World Cup winner added:

"I think it's ignorance. Ignorance and stuff like that, and just to show people that you are all one. We are all one.

"I mean, by hearing things every week. We keep seeing it again and again in a lot of stadiums. It's just to show that, to give support to all the players - I mean, black or white or Chinese or whatever who you are. But there is only one race.

"And just to show respect to everyone. Like I said, we are all one. We all came here to enjoy football, to enjoy ourselves and to do what we love."

When asked whether the gesture was in support of any player in particular, Pogba highlighted issues in the game across the world affecting Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly, Everton's Moise Kean, and his United teammates Jesse Lingard and Fred. 

English football has been plagued by racism this season, the most recent high-profile incidents coming in Tottenham's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea when both Antonio Rudiger and Son Heung-min were subjected to abuse. 

At a time when players are being encouraged to take matters into their own hands, Pogba has taken a massive step.