Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho defends Romelu Lukaku after £75m signing misfires on debut against LA Galaxy

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Jose Mourinho defended Romelu Lukaku after Manchester United's new £75million signing misfired on his debut against LA Galaxy in Carson.

United won comfortably 5-2 at the StubHub Center in the opening game of their summer tour as Marcus Rashford scored twice in the opening 20 minutes.

But Lukaku, who replaced the young England striker at half-time when United changed their entire starting line-up, missed a wonderful chance to get off the mark within four minutes of coming on and scuffed another opportunity wide.

Manchester United new boy Romelu Lukaku failed to score on debut against LA Galaxy

Mourinho still made a point of praising the Belgian, saying: 'He didn't score goals, but he played better than the ones who did score goals.

'A good thing for me today is he's a team player and was not worried about himself. He was worried about the improvement of the team.'

Asked to compare Lukaku with Rooney, who has moved in the other direction to Everton, Mourinho added: 'They are incomparable. Rooney, for us, was not a striker. Lukaku is more of a target man with his back to the opponents. It's a point of attack to everyone who has the ball in defensive lines. He's really fast.'

Lukaku missed two opportunities to register his first goal for the club in the pre-season friendly

In contrast to Lukaku, Rashford showed clinical finishing to score in the second and 20th minutes. He had a great chance to complete his hat-trick just before coming off at half-time, but failed to beat the keeper when through on goal again.

Mourinho insists that Rashford is not a target man but acknowledged that the youngster has bulked up significantly from the rookie striker who burst on the scene at Old Trafford 17 months ago.

He said: 'It's just natural evolution of a kid accumulating minutes on the pitch. You change your body when you're a young kid. 

'He's already taller than when I arrived 13 months ago, He's three centimetres taller and he has put on some muscle, but without any kind of specific work because his speed is his most important quality.

Marcus Rashford scored a well-taken brace as United beat their MLS opponents 5-2 in Carson

'Today he was in a different team than Lukaku. We will also try both in the same team, which I think can also work.

'Last season everyone was saying it would be difficult for me to play Marcus, but he was one of the top in appearances for the team. He's learning a lot, a great professional, great attitude.

'Last season he was not scoring goals and missing a lot of chances, which was not a drama because that's part of the evolution. We knew he is going to score more goals than last season.'

United boss Jose Mourinho was pleased with Lukaku's performance despite his lack of goals

United led 5-0 after Marouane Fellaini, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial added to Rashford's double, but the Galaxy hit back with two late goals after making changes of their own at half-time.

Mourinho said: 'They just got the opportunity to play against better players and a better team. The coach didn't play to win, he played to give the experience to his players. He played like us: two teams, let's play.

'So obviously in the second half they had players with more experience, better quality, and were more difficult to beat.

'But I think the 5-2 for us means exactly the same as for them. We don't care about it. It was a good training session. I thank the Galaxy players for the competition for us.'