Jose tells fans not to waste their money

watched Chelsea against Inter earlier and people had decided the beach was better. The stadium was empty.”

It is understood United are being paid around £30m for playing in the ICC, with Mourinho having effectively told fans to stay away from their final game against Real.

United and Liverpool drew a crowd of 101,254 at the Big House, but Mourinho is more concerned about the number of players he has available. “This is not our team, not our squad,” said Mourinho, who has nine players out injured and eight not due back until next week after their World Cup exploits.

“We started the game with almost half of the players not going to belong to our squad.

“If you say reinforcements you’re saying players I’d like to buy, then that’s another thing. But this is not even 30 per cent of my squad.

“In relation to this game, we have four or five players who are dead because they care for the team. They tried to give everything, even risking themselves because they don’t want to let all the kids do it by themselves.

“We’re trying to play these matches as best we can. But we can’t do it. What did this game give me? Nothing at all.

“We’re not playing here to improve the team or the dynamic, we’re playing here to just survive and have some not very ugly results.”

Mourinho’s mood has not been helped by United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward’s perceived failure to deliver the transfer targets he identified before the summer break. United have made three signings but Mourinho fears he will not land both Leicester’s Harry Maguire and Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic before the August 9 transfer deadline.

“I would like to have two more players, but I think I’m not going to have two,” said Mourinho. “I think it’s possible I’m going to have one.

“I gave a list to my club of five names a few months ago and I’ll wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players.

“If it’s not possible, we keep fighting and working and believing in the players that we have.”