Jose cannot
JOSE Mourinho’s search for his elusive first UEFA Super Cup goes on.
This was his third defeat in the showpiece game but Mourinho will be more concerned that for much of it his Manchester United team looked second best to Real Madrid.
It confirmed his pre-match assessment that they need to bridge a gap if they are to make an impact on their return to the Champions League.
Well-taken goals by Casemiro and Isco put Real Madrid two-up and they also hit the woodwork twice as well as being denied by David De Gea on a couple of occasions.
Romelu Lukaku made amends for an awful miss by pulling one back to spark a spirited United fightback that kept them in with a chance right to the end, with Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini denied by Keylor Navas. IN MACEDONIA the bar with a diving header from Toni Kroos’s corner.
He also fired over the bar after Matteo Darmian had underlined United’s nervousness at the back by sending an intended clearance straight to the Real player.
But it was a case of third-time lucky for Casemiro after 24 minutes when he produced a superb finish from Dani Carvajal’s crossfield ball. There was a suspicion of offiside as the midfielder got in behind Victor Lindelof but the assistant referee kept his flag down.
Replays showed Casemiro’s left arm might have just put him in an offside position when the ball was played but it was an almost impossible call for the assistant on the far side.
United started brightly but wasted a couple of rare openings. Henrikh Mkhitaryan tripped over his own feet after bursting past Sergio Ramos to give himself a clear run on goal. And when Paul Pogba raced away on the counter after Casemiro had hit the bar he should have played in Jesse Lingard, who was totally unmarked and screaming for the ball on the left.
But Pogba ignored his teammate and elected to have a shot, which was blocked. Lingard was furious and so was Mourinho when the first drinks break was called after half an hour.
It was a chance for United, who had been chasing shadows for several minutes as Real slipped through the gears, to catch their breath and an animated Mourinho to give them some much-needed instructions.
Although Karim Benzema forced a save out of De Gea and the struggling Lingard was booked for a foul on Isco, United improved towards half-time.
Lukaku, who had been starved of any service, got their first effort on target with a powerful header that flew straight at Navas. But