Jose Mourinho says Victor Lindelof needs time to adapt at Manchester United

Jose Mourinho says defender Victor Lindelof will be shown plenty of patience after an uncomfortable start to his Manchester United career.

United's Premier League campaign kicked off in fine style on Sunday with a 4-0 win over West Ham, as new signings Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic impressed.

However, Mourinho's other new summer signing Lindelof failed to make the bench at Old Trafford after a difficult debut in last week's Super Cup against Real Madrid.

Concerning the £30.7m acquisition from Benfica, Mourinho said: "I think Real Madrid was too early for him. He played because (Phil) Jones and (Eric) Bailly were both suspended.

"The difference between Lukaku and Matic is that they have years and years of experience of Premier League.

"In 2004 I bought a phenomenal central defender to England, Ricardo Carvalho. He was one of the best central defenders in the last decade in the Premier League.

"But he struggled and it was difficult for him to come and adapt in the beginning. Victor needs a little bit of time and he is going to have that time. Let's go step by step because Victor is a fantastic player."

Mourinho is convinced Manchester United will be stronger this season but is not getting too carried away.

"Many times last season we deserved to win and we didn't, so the fact we won the match was the most important thing," added the Portuguese, who will be desperate to improve on last season's sixth place in the top flight.

"I think the quality of our performance, based on the confidence levels, was really high but I am not going to say the performance was perfect because it wasn't perfect. We made our mistakes and have room for improvement, obviously.

Jose Mourinho says it was a quality performance from United against West Ham

"But it was a solid performance. We had good stability, good confidence levels and desire to play until the end. So good, really good.

"Now our challenge is to keep these confidence levels. I think we can be a better team than we were last season."

Cristiano Ronaldo handed five-match ban for red card against Barcelona

Cristiano Ronaldo has been given a five-match ban following his red card in Real Madrid's Spanish Super Cup first leg 3-1 win over Barcelona.

The Portugal international was ordered off after picking up two yellow cards, one for taking his shirt off after putting Real 2-1 ahead with 10 minutes remaining, and a second for diving after referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea ruled that he had tried to win a penalty when challenged by Samuel Umtiti.

However, Ronaldo reacted angrily and appeared to push Bengoetxea after receiving his second yellow card just two minutes after scoring and picking up his first caution, and the Spanish football federation (RFEF) has now handed Ronaldo a five-match ban - one for the double booking and another four for pushing the official.

Pending an appeal, the 32-year-old's ban will start with the Super Cup second leg against Barcelona on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.

He will then miss La Liga fixtures away at Deportivo, at home to Valencia and Levante and then away at Real Sociedad.

Ronaldo has been banned for five matches

Real boss Zinedine Zidane branded Ronaldo's second yellow card as "ludicrous".

He said: "I'm annoyed that Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off, it might not have been a penalty, but still, giving him a card is ludicrous.

"Let's see if we can make arrangements for him to be available on Wednesday. I am truly proud of my players, they played well as 10 and really wanted the win. Now we turn our attentions to the return leg and we need to relax."

Ronaldo took his shirt off after scoring

A Gerard Pique own goal put Real ahead five minutes after the break, only for Lionel Messi to equalise from the penalty spot before Ronaldo struck just three minutes later.

Real Madrid went on to win the game 3-1 thanks to Marco Asensio's late strike

LUKAKU'S SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH RASHFORD

Romelu Lukaku has admitted he and Marcus Rashford share a special connection after Manchester United’s fantastic opening Premier League win over West Ham at Old Trafford.

Jose Mourinho’s men ran out 4-0 victors on Sunday afternoon as the big Belgian netted either side of the break, before Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba rounded off the performance with a goal apiece.

Lukaku and Rashford combined neatly for the Reds’ first goal and, after the match, the former Everton star revealed that the pair struck up a good relationship from the moment he joined the club.

“With me and Marcus, there’s something special,” Lukaku told MUTV. “Hopefully we can produce even more [in the future] than we did today.”

“We clicked from the first day that I arrived, and I knew that he would help me settle in at the club.

“I knew Jesse [Lingard] from before, and Paul, they’re probably my closest friends in the dressing room, but I get on with everybody in the team.”

Lukaku has got his United career off to a flyer with a fine brace on his Old Trafford bow to follow his Super Cup strike, but he revealed he was a little disappointed he could not make it three.

“I wish it was three goals and a hat-trick to be fair,” he said. “I was thinking about [the third goal] – I’m a striker so I’m always thinking about scoring goals.

“Strikers are there to score goals and, if you stick to your job, you’re going to do well.

“But, at the end, of the day I want to win and the team wants to win. So I’m really happy that everybody performed well and that we’ve set a high standard.”