MATIC: GOALS WILL COME FOR LUKAKU
Despite a disappointing night for Manchester United in Skopje, Nemanja Matic is sure his new team-mate Romelu Lukaku will be a goalscoring force in the season to come.
The Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday night as Casemiro and Isco netted either side of the break for the European Champions before Lukaku pulled one back after 62 minutes.
United’s new no.9’s first official goal for the club, on his competitive debut, came as he reacted fastest to fire home after Matic’s powerful shot was fumbled by Keylor Navas in the Real goal.
Before he found the net Lukaku had missed an earlier chance, but after the match Matic was confident that the Belgian’s goal would be the first of many for him.
“It’s very important for us that our strikers score goals,” Matic told MUTV. “It’s very important for confidence.
“As you know he missed a very good chance but this can happen – it’s football. But I am happy for him that he scored a goal after that and I’m sure that he will continue to score goals and that he will score many this season.”
For Jose Mourinho’s men attentions now turn to the start of the Premier League and West Ham, who travel to Old Trafford on Sunday for the Reds' opening match of the season.
Matic admitted that although United fell short in the Super Cup it's important that he and his team-mates focus on their next match quickly.
“We tried everything to equalise and then to win the game,” he said. “But they are very experienced and they also had some chances to score another because at the end we tried to go with everything to score and they had some counter-attacks.
“On Sunday we have a very important game at Old Trafford in front of all our supporters. We have tomorrow to rest and to be ready for West Ham.”
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