These pre-season preparations are ultimately about fitness, squad bonding and building a sense of confidence before the competitive season begins. It’s easy to get excited by results but they really don’t matter at this stage; regardless of beating rivals such as Manchester City, and Real Madrid.
Real Madrid started with a full-strength side with the exception of Cristiano Ronaldo being away on holiday, whereas the Manchester United line-up saw Andreas Pereira and Timothy Fosu-Mensah handed game time.
Jose Mourinho’s side dominated the first half and deserved to go in at half time leading 1-0. Both teams made multiple substitutions at the beginning of the second in order to clock up minutes for players to enhance match fitness; something the two managers see as a priority in their preparations.
The La Liga giants enjoyed most of the possession in the second half but didn’t cause David de Gea many problems. That was until United’s new signing Victor Lindelof took Theo Hernandez down inside the box, leaving the referee with no other option but to reward Real Madrid a penalty. Casemiro stood up confidently and slotted the ball into the net to cancel Zinedine Zidane side’s one goal deficit.
Fittingly, the game went to penalties but it was the worst shoot-out you’re likely to see for a very long time. United won 2-1, yet everyone in attendance was thankful it was over by the time Casemiro crashed his penalty off the crossbar.
Jesse Lingard and underserved criticism
Lingard became the only United player to start all four pre-season games this summer. It was made clear last year that Mourinho sees the 24-year-old as an important member of his squad, and that continues to be the case as we near the 2017/18 football season.
He’s had a very good pre-season and always shows for the ball. Early on in the first half, the Warrington born midfielder took a shot from distance and forced Keylar Navor to make a difficult save. Then, at the brink of half time, Lingard found himself in the right position to score a tap-in after a stunning assist from Anthony Martial, who squared the ball after beating several Real Madrid defenders in a wide position.
Gareth Bale returns
It was nice to see Bale return for Real Madrid. Even though Real Madrid were very successful last season — winning the La Liga title and Champions League — Bale won’t look back on it too fondly due to the amount of time he spent absent through injury.
That lead to speculation about his future with several media outlets suggesting Florentino Perez wanted to cash in on the Wales international. Now, he has the opportunity to get a pre-season under his belt and prove his doubters wrong.
No-one wants to see a footballer of that calibre spend that much time in the treatment room. Bale entertains, and football fans want to be entertained.
The myth about Romelu Lukaku
Unless you live under a rock or avoid social media like it’s the plague, you’ve definitely read about Lukaku’s so-called dreadful first touch.
However, since watching him on this tour that could not be further from the truth. The myth only really gathered pace when it was obvious he was leaving Everton for United.
The Belgian’s awareness up front is second to none. Just like his willingness to hold defenders off the ball and find teammates in wide positions. Among the highlights of the second half was an early cross by Daley Blind — something you will see a lot of as Mourinho looks to make the most of his main summer signing.
Modern football has peaked
Only in pre-season does Ronald McDonald lead the world’s two biggest football clubs out and stand in line for pre-match handshakes.
It made us wonder if this was another ridiculous attempt to ‘make America great again’. Although it’s only a bit of fun, the game in Europe is becoming more commercialised by the year, and I can’t be the only person fearful that we will see more of this malarky tested for Champions League finals etc.
Let’s not give the governing bodies too many ideas…
