Jose Mourinho: Man Utd deserve rest before West Ham opener after Real Madrid defeat

United kick-off their domestic campaign against West Ham at Old Trafford on Sunday (4pm).

And that gives them a five-day gap from last night's UEFA Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid in Macedonia.

Mourinho named a near-full strength team but saw his team beaten 2-1.

Romelu Lukaku pulled one back after Casemiro and Isco had scored for Madrid, while the likes of Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nemanja Matic all played the full 90 minutes.

The Super Cup brought to an end a busy pre-season for United, which has seen them play eight first-team matches since July 16.

United toured the US before travelling to Norway, Ireland and Macedonia.

But Mourinho believes after a break today his side will be fully prepared come Sunday's opener against the Hammers.

When asked if his squad was ready for West Ham, Mourinho said: "Yes, we deserve the rest tomorrow and on Thursday we will start, we go for it with everything.

"I'm so happy to be the manager of these guys, I told them a few days ago that during my long career I never had a group that I liked so much, like I like them.

"I'm really happy to be with them and I'm going to fight with them all the way, so let's go on Sunday. 

"Old Trafford is waiting for us and I think Old Trafford has a reason to be behind us."

United's Europa League triumph last season means they automatically qualify for the groups stages of the Champions League.

As a result, Jose Mourinho won't have to worry about squeezing qualifiers into his August schedule or an EFL Cup second round tie.

After the visit of West Ham, Manchester United travel to Swansea next Saturday before welcoming Leicester the week after to start the campaign.