HERO DE GEA SHOWS REAL WHAT THEY ARE MISSING

DAVID DE GEA offered Real Madrid a timely reminder of what they are missing out on with a series of heroics in an otherwise lamentable penalty shoot-out as Manchester United beat the European champions 2-1 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw in Santa Clara.

Only three of 10 penalties were converted, with De Gea saving from Mateo Kovacic and Oscar.

Casemiro, whose spot-kick had cancelled out Jesse Lingard’s goal in regulation time, had to score Real’s fifth shoot-out penalty but rattled his shot against the crossbar.

For all the pre-match talk about De Gea, the story looked like being about Anthony Martial, who teed up Lingard for United’s goal with a majestic piece of skill – or at least it was before the France forward ballooned his penalty in the shoot-out high over the crossbar.

“Obviously we want more consistency in his talent,” Mourinho said.

“I think today was positive for him. That’s why I left him for 90 minutes on the pitch. He was enjoying it and trying things. It’s important to try things in these friendly matches so it’s good for Anthony and his confidence.

“He is a young player, he still has time to learn, still time to improve, still time to develop, and it’s also his personality. “He is training better than before, he’s working harder than before, it’s a question to bring his talent more in a consistent way.”

Martial (left) produced his wonderful piece of skill on the cusp of half-time that had the 65,109-strong crowd at the Levi’s Stadium jumping out of their seats after a fairly lacklustre game up to that point.

There were three Real players around Martial when he picked up possession on the left just outside the penalty area, but he beat them all with the sort of fleet-footed-brilliance most commonly associated with Lionel Messi before setting up Lingard for a simple finish.