Jose Mourinho admitted defeat in Manchester United’s pursuit of Gareth Bale after losing the Super Cup final against Real Madrid.
Goals from Casemiro and Isco downed United in Skopje as Real became the first club in 27 years to win consecutive titles.
Mourinho had revealed he would be ready to bid for Bale if the Welshman was not picked by Zinedine Zidane but claimed any hopes of signing him have now diminished.
‘I think clearly the club wants him, the manager wants him and he wants the club so it’s game over, even before it started,’ Mourinho said.
‘I think game over because now everybody knows he is going to stay.’
Mourinho was left bitter at Casemiro’s first goal not being ruled offside and saw Romelu Lukaku score on his competitive debut despite earlier fluffing an easy chance.
The Portuguese – who handed his runner-up medal to a child in the crowd – added: ‘We lost 2-1 which shows the result was short and one of the goals was offside so with a good VAR it would be 1-1 and extra time.
‘It was a difficult job for Romelu to play against a team that dominates the possession. He tried and of course he missed an open goal but he had a good fight with two good central defenders.
Bale suggested he has not held talks with Real over his future despite suggestions in Spain that Zidane could allow the Welshman to leave.
‘I haven’t had any conversations with them about that,’ Bale said. ‘I’m just concentrating on my football and trying to get my fitness up as much as I can after not playing for about eight or nine months.
‘I’m not listening to anything. I don’t read anything. Obviously I get told bits and bobs but no, I’m enjoying my football here. I’m playing as much as I can and winning trophies.’
He later added: ‘There’s been no need for anything, everything has gone as normal like it has every year, there’s been the normal speculation like there is every year but, yeah, I think obviously it’s a little bit more hyped up because we’re playing Man United, so yeah, it’s one of those things.’
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