Manchester United 1 Real Madrid 2: Uefa Super Cup 2017 live as it happened
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Manchester United were outclassed at times as Real Madrid won the Uefa Super Cup to give Jose Mourinho food for thought at the start of his second season in the hot seat.
Sweltering Skopje bore witness to an entertaining meeting of these European giants in the annual clash of the Champions League and Europa League winners.
Casemiro and Isco gave Real Madrid back-to-back Super Cup triumphs, running out 2-1 victors despite Romelu Lukaku's first competitive goal for United bringing the Macedonia encounter to a tense finale.
Relive all the action on Standard Sport's live blog!
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What they said
Jose Mourinho: "We are going to try [to win]. That's obvious, but also obvious is the difference between the Champions League winner and Europa League winner. I keep saying that.
"The Europa League is very difficult to win because it's hard. You know, lots of matches, you travel, the motivation is not so high because the Europa League is not the El Dorado for the football players.
"But the top quality is obviously in the Champions League. When you get into the Champions League semi-finals, you have four of the best, I would say, five or six teams in Europe.
"There is a difference of quality. But, you know, it's possible. We believe that it is possible."
Zinedine Zidane: "The feeling isn’t good [during pre-season]. There have been good points, but the overall feeling... no.
"We can’t be satisfied. We have to do better than we have been.
"We started off badly and we know how it is.
"The bad run is now four games long. We want to get ourselves out of this.
"We have very little time before [the Super Cup] and we have to rest and get ready for that."
Head to head
Prediction
Betting odds (via 888 Sport)
- Real Madrid to win: 6/5
- Man Utd to win: 49/20
- Draw: 12/5
Click here to place a bet. Odds correct as of August 8 at 8.30am.
Read More
Jose Mourinho insists that his side will "go for it" in a big match. First time for everything I guess.
We have this amazing chance to play against the champions of Europe and compete for a title, so we'll go for it."
Woof, that Real Madrid dressing room does indeed look like something special. At the time there was a degree of skepticism, not least from yours truly, over whether this team was the right team to end the 27-year wait for repeat European Cup winners.
But boy oh boy is there some talent in Zinedine Zidane's team. Even without Ronaldo this is surely the best starting XI in the world.
So... that Gareth Bale bid is off then Jose?
'LUCIFER'
Drink breaks will be used in tonight's match if the scorching Skopje weather continues into the evening.
Temperatures have rocketed across southern Europe thanks to a heatwave dubbed 'Lucifer', regularly taking the Macedonian capital above 40 degrees Celsius.
BALE-OUT
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is ready to battle for Gareth Bale's signature if Real Madrid leave the attacker out of the Uefa Super Cup - a canny waay to force Zidane's hand, perhaps?
Over to you, Zizou...
We will have Madrid and United team news in around 20 minutes, but for now, here's some pre-match reading...
Hello and welcome to Standard Sport's live coverage of the Uefa Super Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester United!
Zinedine Zidane's Champions League winners and Jose Mourinho's Europa League victors go head to head in Macedonia tonight for more silverware, and we will be here to bring you all the action.