Romelu Lukaku opened his goalscoring account for Manchester United against Real Madrid (Picture: Getty)
Romelu Lukaku opened his goalscoring account for Manchester United against Real Madrid (Picture: Getty)

Nemanja Matic has backed Romelu Lukaku to enjoy a prolific first season at Manchester United after he opened his goalscoring account against Real Madrid in the European Super Cup.

The club’s record £75million signing from Everton has enjoyed an impressive pre-season campaign but endured a mixed night against the reigning Champions League holders on his first competitive start.

Lukaku spurned an excellent second half opportunity, missing an open goal from just six yards out, but redeemed himself moments later, gobbling up a similar opportunity after Keylor Navas failed to deal with a Matic piledriver.

‘It’s very important for us that our strikers score goals,’ Matic told MUTV. ‘It’s very important for confidence.

Romelu Lukaku’s goal could not prevent Manchester United from sinking to a 2-1 defeat (Picture: Getty)
Romelu Lukaku’s goal could not prevent Manchester United from sinking to a 2-1 defeat (Picture: Getty)

‘As you know, he missed a very good chance but this can happen – it’s football. But I am happy for him that he scored a goal after that and I’m sure that he will continue to score goals and that he will score many this season.’

Jose Mourinho’s side were largely second-best in Tuesday’s encounter in Skopje, but Matic insists his new teammates cannot afford to dwell on the 2-1 defeat and must focus on Sunday’s Premier League opener against West Ham.

‘We tried everything to equalise and then to win the game,’ he added. ‘But they are very experienced and they also had some chances to score another because at the end we tried to go with everything to score and they had some counter-attacks.

‘On Sunday, we have a very important game at Old Trafford in front of all our supporters. We have to rest and to be ready for West Ham.’

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