The Heat Is On For The Reds In Macedonia

As a heatwave being dubbed 'Lucifer' hits Macedonia and southern Europe, with temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it is Jose Mourinho's Red Devils who are determined to come to the boil in Skopje after a successful pre-season campaign.

The Manchester United boss has made no secret of his feelings for the UEFA Super Cup. Quite simply, it is the sort of prestigious game he feels the club, with all its history and tradition, needs to be involved in. He was describing its importance even before the Reds set up a Europa League final date with Ajax last season.

With the Stockholm showdown with the Amsterdam outfit successfully navigated, United are back where we belong - at Europe's top table - and Tuesday's showpiece event is just the start. It is reassuring to be back in the Champions League draw and the group stages are awaited with a real sense of excitement.

The reason for optimism is Mourinho's record as a serial winner and unfliching, relentless and ruthless determination to bring more silverware, and glory, to Old Trafford. He is certain to be in 'game mode' as he arrives in the Macedonian capital and, make no mistake, will be hell bent on hatching a plan that will unsettle his former club Real, the reigning European champions.

It is no easy task, particularly as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale were both named in the Madrid giants' squad on Monday, and the fact is Spanish clubs have lifted the Super Cup in seven of the last eight years. They have dominated European competition of late.

It remains one of the few trophies Mourinho has never got his hands on, and even the legendary United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who was on our flight out of Manchester Airport early on Monday morning, only won it once (in 1991) when in charge at Old Trafford. Another of our fellow passengers, Sir Bobby Charlton, dominated the world game before the competition was even conceived.

Yet that will not be the only motivation for a manager whose fierce competitive nature burns brighter than ever. The chance to pit his wits against Zinedine Zidane, a coach who has achieved so much so early into his managerial career, is one he will relish and, if there are any weaknesses in Real's armoury, you can be sure Mourinho will have identified them and had this ultimate test in his mind for some time. For all their Galacticos, Real showed they are beatable when United won a penalty shoot-out when the teams met in Santa Clara recently.

The message throughout the tour was that the real business only begins in earnest on 8 August and that is when the competitive season starts for Mourinho and his charges. The heat will be on in more ways than one at the Philip II Stadium.

"I knew the weather was like this," said the United manager, at his pre-match press conference on Monday afternoon. "Since we have got back from the States I have decided to train every day in Manchester at 4pm, but it was raining every day. I was trying to keep that feeling of the heat but it was raining every day. 

"I think for the players it has to be a little bit hard. I know in Madrid, they had more training in the hot weather so they are more adapted than us. But we have to play and we have to try our best. There are not many times that a player has the chance to play for the Super Cup, unless you are like Real Madrid or Barcelona, winning European trophies quite regularly. So it is a special moment for the players, we have to try to play against the European champions."

In a contest that is more likely to be fiery than friendly, bank on Jose's United attempting to cook up the right formula to overcome Madrid's aristocrats.