MADRID READY TO GO WITHOUT STAR AGAINST UNITED
Maestro back in training for Spanish giants but unlikely to play in Skopje
CRISTIANO Ronaldo has finally returned to training with Real Madrid, but the defending European champions are likely to be without the Portuguese superstar for tonight’s Uefa Super Cup clash with Manchester United, in Skopje. Ronaldo, 32, is accused of tax evasion in Spain and was charged in a court near Madrid last week, while he was handed an extended summer break by his club after playing for Portugal at the Confederations Cup.
He only returned to training at the weekend and it would be a major surprise if coach Zinedine Zidane were to include the star against his former club at the Philip II Arena, in the capital of the Republic of Macedonia.
“Ronaldo needed to rest. He has had his holidays and that was important,” Zidane said of the player whose two goals helped propel Real Madrid to a 4-1 victory over Juventus in the Champions League final in Cardiff two months ago.
With that win, Real Madrid became the first club to retain the trophy in the Champions League era and completed a glorious campaign in which they also won the La Liga.
The season started with a 3-2 extra-time triumph against Sevilla in the Super Cup in the Norwegian city of Trondheim.
“Real Madrid is a team, a club, an institution that has hunger,” Zidane said.
“We all know where we are and when you finish a season like last year winning, it helps you try to do the same thing coming into the new season.”
However, Zidane’s side failed to record a victory during a preseason tour of the US which included a high-profile friendly clash against Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United in Santa Clara, California.
That International Champions Cup encounter ended in a 1-1 draw, before United won on penalties.
While the Spaniards have made two relatively low-key new signings in Dani Ceballos, from Betis, and Theo Hernandez, from Atletico Madrid, United have spent big ahead of their return to the Champions League.
The Europa League winners have added defender Victor Lindelof, from Benfica, midfielder Nemanja Matic, from Chelsea, and Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.
United wrapped up their preparations with a 2-1 win over Sampdoria in Dublin.
Tonight’s match offers United a chance to start their new campaign on a high before their opening Premier League match against West Ham United on Sunday.
In a glittering career, Mourinho has not yet won the Super Cup – his Chelsea team lost on penalties to Bayern Munich in 2013.
The Portuguese manager is coming up against the club he had coached for three years until 2013 – and he did not leave the Spanish capital on the best of terms but insisted that experience was not on his mind.
“It is something I’ve been through many times. I left Porto and two months later I was facing them in the Champions League,” he said. “I left Chelsea and a few months later I was facing them with Manchester United.
“I never look at it in terms of taking on my former club, not at all. So I just look at Real Madrid as what they are – a big club, the European champions, and it is a great motivation for us to play against them.”
The annual meeting of the European champions and Europa League winners comes to the Balkan state after going to Prague, Cardiff, Tbilisi and Trondheim in recent years.
But in contrast to the cool conditions in Norway 12 months ago, temperatures in Skopje are expected to be upwards of 30°C when the game starts tonight.