Despite a valiant effort in the second half, Manchester United fell short against Champions League winners Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, with goals from Casemiro and Isco condemning José Mourinho’s side to defeat in Skopje.
The gulf in class between the two sides was evident in the first half, as Real showed exactly why they had been the first side to successfully defend the Champions League in its current incarnation. 24 minutes had gone by on the clock when Dani Carvajal floated a wonderful ball into the path of Casemiro, who found the net with a placed effort. The Brazilian looked marginally offside, but the flag stayed down.
That was the high point of a first half dominated by the Spanish side, with Casemiro having rattled the crossbar with a header just before scoring. And they extended their advantage early on in the second half, Isco coolly slotting past David de Gea after a well-worked one-two with Gareth Bale.
It could have gotten ugly for United, with Bale hitting the crossbar shortly afterwards, but the Reds found their way back into proceedings, with Romelu Lukaku scoring his first competitive goal after pouncing on the rebound from Nemanja Matic’s fierce driven effort.
The second half performance was an improvement for United, but in the end, Real were just too strong and recorded a fourth Super Cup victory. Here are the player ratings from Skopje.
