Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho confirmed he won't try to sign Gareth Bale
Manchester United were beaten by Real Madrid in the UEFA Super cup final before Mourinho admitted it was “game over” in his pursuit of Gareth Bale.
Goals from Casemiro and Isco put Real in charge before Romelu Lukaku made amends for an earlier bad miss by pulling a goal.
But Mourinho - who gave his losers’ medal to a United supporter in the stands - slipped to a third successive Super Cup defeat then conceded Bale is out of his reach.
“It’s game over, “ he said. “Everyone knows now he is going to stay.”
It’s game over
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho
Mourinho rolled out the welcome mat for Bale on the eve of the game but the Welsh star didn’t give Manchester United much encouragement after the game, insisting his future remains with Real and he is not listening to the speculation that suggests he will be sold if Real land Kylian Mbappe.
He said: “I’m just concentrating on my football and I’m not listening to anything. I’m not reading anything, although people tell me bits and bobs. I’m enjoying my football and playing as much as a I can and winning trophies.”
Asked if Real had told him that he can move on, he replied: “Not that I know of. I haven’t had any of those conversations. I am just concentrating on my football and trying to get fitness up after not playing regularly for eight or nine months."
Mourinho gives Super Cup medal to fan after Real Madrid defeat
Bale, who started the game with Cristiano Ronaldo only fit enough for the bench, said Real were deserved winners in the Philip II stadium and said training in Madrid helped them deal with the searing heat as temperatures topped 100 degrees pitch side.
He added: “It is obviously great to keep adding to the trophy collection. It was a difficult game but I think we played well and controlled the game very well.
“It helped we have been training in 38C heat in Madrid! We controlled the game and deserved to win.”
But Mourinho was annoyed the first goal was allowed despite looking offside.
"I think we did well, I think we lost to one goal which shows the result was really short and one of their goals was an offside," he said.
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REUTERS
Jose Mourinho failed to win the Super Cup again
"With a good VAR system it would be 1-1 and extra-time.
"They could have scored more goals than they did, we could have scored more goals than we did.
"They had a period of dominance at middle of the first half and we had a period of dominance at middle of the second half."
"We were playing a team full of fantastic players, we discussed the result until almost the end.
"I say almost the end because with Cristiano Ronaldo coming on, because every time Ronaldo wanted a free-kick the game was stopped.
"We gave them a fight but have reasons to leave optimistic and proud. Let's go for Sunday."
