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Manchester United will be facing Real Madrid at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on 31st July, in their last pre-season game in the United States. United come into the game on the back of a humiliating loss to arch-rivals Liverpool, while Real kick off their pre-season here. United have won only one of the last seven times meetings between these sides, with four wins for Real.
Jose Mourinho is not a happy man already, with the pre-season results not going according to plan, and he will be livid with the prospect of facing Real Madrid with the team he has with him right now. Manchester United have stacks of tired legs, injuries and player absentees right now and even though he is grumpier than the Grinch, Mourinho cannot be put to blame entirely.
Goalkeeping is the only area without any concerns for United. David de Gea is back and has had a few training sessions under his belt, and will be desperate to put his World Cup woes behind him. In him, Lee Grant and Joel Pereira, United have enough personel to see out the game without too many concerns.
The defence has added to Mourinho’s frowns with every passing day. Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly are the only recognized centre backs in the team right now, and both are injured. In fact, Bailly had played the previous game, which he was due to be rested in, with an injury because Smalling picked up a knock during warm up. Antonio Valencia and Diogo Dalot are already nursing injuries, so they cannot be taken into consideration. The fact that Matteo Darmian will be Mourinho’s most experienced defender available speaks volumes of the Special One’s troubles. His troubles, though, will be compounded with the fact that Gareth Bale, apparently still a transfer target for United, is in contention to start the game.
In the middle, things are a tad better. The only concern will be that Ander Herrera has played in every game and Mourinho knows that there is a danger that the Spaniard might run out of steam before the start of the season. The same can be said of Andreas Pereira, but given the form that the Brazilian is in, it would be wise to let him continue. Fred featured in the Liverpool game for around 20 minutes, so he should be fit to start the game. Scott McTominay, even though he is on a downward slide in the pre-season, is the only other option in terms of experience.
It is in setting up the attacking jigsaw that Mourinho finds his gauntlet of frustration. Alexis Sanchez, going from strength to strength in pre-season, is the only experienced option as a striker, and even though he had his share of rest due to Chile’s absence in the World Cup, fatigue could be an issue. Juan Mata has done well to partner the Chilean as a supporting striker and has adapted to his game amicably, but he has not exactly been too effective. Not that Mourinho has too many options at hand now, but if he does consider shifting Sanchez to the left and going with a proper nine, he does have Mason Greenwood and Joshua Bohui available to him. Greenword, it must be mentioned, is just 16 years old.
Real Madrid will be running out on the pitch for the first time since they won the Champions League, and the team they put out will be very different from the one that won the coveted trophy. Julen Lopetegui has been training with the 4-2-3-1 formation, and with a host of first team members missing in action for Real as well, many of the youngsters will be hopeful of getting the nod.
The double departure of Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo from the Real Madrid set-up will definitely affect them and with no notable addition to the team so far, Real might be short of inspiration. But in Gareth Bale, they do have someone who can change the outcome of the game in a flash and as such, there will be enough excitement in the United States about this clash. The last time United and Real faced eachother in pre-season in the US, was last year, with a record crowd in the US for a football match. United won the game, via a penalty shootout, 2-1.
Mourinho will be looking to capitalize on the absence of many of Real’s first team players. He will most definitely man-mark Bale if the Welshman starts and will be hoping that United, after draws and defeat, are ahead of the Spanish giants in preparation. Real’s first pre-season game, with Lopetegui’s first outing as a Real Manager, combined with lack of practice among the relatively young team should inspire Mourinho to have faith on his youngsters too, at least for this game.
Predicted Manchester United Team: De Gea; Darmian, Fosu-Mensah, Tuanzebe, Williams, Shaw; Fred, Pereira, McTominay; Mata, Sanchez
Predicted Real Madrid Team: Casilla; Theo, Leon, Vallejo, Sergio Lopez; Llorente, Ceballos; Asensio, Valverde, Bale; Benzema
Match Predictions
Both teams are without a host of players, but United have already played four games this pre-season and as such are a bit ahead of Real in terms of preparation. That should be enough to see them through.
Predicted Final Score – Manchester United 2-1 Real Madrid
