Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 7y

Zinedine Zidane delighted with Real's first preseason match, despite loss

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he was satisfied with his team's first outing of the summer, despite a penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in their International Champions Cup meeting on Sunday.

A gently-paced game in the mid-afternoon heat at the Levi's Stadium finished 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Jesse Lingard putting United ahead just before the break after some magic from Anthony Martial, and Casemiro equalising from the spot after debutant Theo Hernandez won a penalty midway through the second period.

The resulting spot kicks were not of the highest quality, with Casemiro sending his team's fifth off the crossbar, meaning that United won 2-1 thanks to conversions from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Daley Blind, and just youngster Luis Miguel Quezada netting for the La Liga giants.

The Los Blancos coach told his postmatch news conference that he was especially happy at how his side had competed in their first ICC game, particularly the seven kids from the youth team who played the entire second 45 minutes.

"[The penalties] were not so important for me, the most important was that we all competed well today," Zidane said. "I am very happy with this game, the first we've played [this preseason].

"It was a complete game, by all, including the kids who came on in the second half. I am satisfied as we had no injuries, that is the most important. We all competed very well against a team who had played four or five games.

"Bit by bit hopefully we will find our form quickly."

Zidane said club captain Sergio Ramos should be back training ahead of Wednesday's ICC clash with Manchester City in Los Angeles, when Spain's Under-21 players including summer signing Dani Ceballos should also be available.

"I hope that [Ramos] will be training normally with the team tomorrow or the next day," he said. "It was better not to travel due to his ear, but it's not so big."

The former Galactico also denied that comments he made on Saturday about the departure of Alvaro Morata to Chelsea leaving him with a forward less than last season had been meant as a message to club president Florentino Perez.

"I am not going to ask for anything," Zidane said. "I am always talking with the president. We have 28 players here, and I am happy working with that. Then we will see, as anything can happen until Aug. 31, but I am not asking for anything, headlines saying that were misleading."

Most important at the moment, Zidane maintained, was getting ready for another looming match-up with United, in the UEFA Super Cup in Skopje on Aug. 8.

"The most important thing for us was to start to play again, to compete again," he said. "We are preparing for the eighth.

"That is our objective at the moment, our first official game. We want to reach that game in the best form possible, and try to win our first trophy of the season."

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