Romelu Lukaku scored his first competitive goal in a Manchester United shirt, but that could not stop Real Madrid from clinching their second consecutive UEFA Super Cup title. Real topped United 2-1 in Skopje on Tuesday.
While the score ended up being close and there were a lot of positives to take out of the game for Manchester United, the result was never really in doubt, with Real Madrid dominating the English Premier League side for large parts of the match.
Casemiro and Isco were the goalscorers for Real Madrid, while Lukaku halved the deficit just past the hour, even if it wasn't enough to take this match into extra time, with United fluffing their lines towards the end, when presented with a couple of decent chances.
Real opened the scoring through Casemiro in the 24th minute and it was a goal that they thoroughly deserved. The Brazilian, who had seen an earlier header hit the crossbar, got in behind the United defence – there was a slight suspicion of offside, although it would have been harsh to give it against Real Madrid – to half-volley a nice ball over the top from Isco.
The score should have really been a lot bigger in Real's favour at halftime, but it did double on 52 minutes, when Isco and Bale played a nice one-two, with the Spaniard then slotting the ball nicely from an acute angle past David de Gea.
Lukaku then should have pulled one back for United, when the ball came to him off a Pogba header that was saved by Keylor Navas, but the former Everton striker skied his effort, when hitting the target would have been easier.
After Bale, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United, hit the crossbar for Real, Lukaku would get the goal he wanted, this time slotting home the rebound off a shot from the impressive Nemanja Matic.
United threw everything at Real in the final minutes, which saw Cristiano Ronaldo come late on, but try as they might they just could not get the equalising goal.
While there are plenty of signs of encouragement from this performance for Jose Mourinho, the manager will also know there are a lot of chinks to iron out as well, but United do look capable of mounting a challenge this season in the Premier League.
For Real, this is just the first of what they will hope is another season filled with trophies. Zinedine Zidane's side are the holders of the La Liga and the Champions League.
