Mourinho ready to battle for Bale

MANCHESTER United manager Jose Mourinho is ready to make his move if Gareth Bale is left out of Real Madrid's UEFA Super Cup line-up.

The two sides meet in Skopje tonight in the annual clash between the winners of the Europa League and Champions League and all eyes will be on Real's teamsheet.

Bale is part of Zinedine Zidane's 24-man squad in Macedonia for the match, but speculation continues over the Wales international's future.

SUGGESTIONS

There have been suggestions in Spain that Madrid are willing to part company with the 28-year-old as they move for Monaco's Kylian Mbappe, giving hope to long-standing admirers United.

Mourinho recently said it would be impossible to bring in Bale, but is now prepared to pounce on any softening on their part.

"If he is on his way out of Real Madrid, well, I'll try to be waiting for him on the other side and try to fight with other coaches that would also like to have him on his team," said Mourinho.

"But I think that if he plays tomorrow, it is probably the best confirmation that they'll keep counting on him during the season."

Zidane had the chance to quash speculation surrounding Bale, yet side-stepped the subject of Mourinho's comments on three occasions.

Asked if it would be crazy to think that the Welshman would not be in the Spanish capital come September 1, the Real coach said: "Well, Bale is a Real Madrid player.

"That is all I can really say.

"What I want to talk to you about now is tomorrow's match because tomorrow we have a really important match.

"We are here: him, me and all the other players, and all the fans are here for tomorrow's match only. That's it.

"So, really, that stuff doesn't interest me very much."

United will take on star-studded Real in the stifling Skopje heat without a host of defenders, including Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo.

An English club has not won the Super Cup since 2005.