Manchester United impress against Real Madrid in front of record crowd

Louis van Gaal hailed the more than “300,000 fans” Manchester United have already played before in their four games so far on their tour of America as they swept into Monday’s final of the International Champions Cup in Miami against Liverpool.

While Van Gaal described the 18-day trip as “preparation” to dampen expectation, this convincing win over Real Madrid also ensures the new manager remains unbeaten. He said: “It’s preparation time. So, also, for the opponents its preparation. You’ve seen [Cristiano] Ronaldo arriving in the 75th minute. We also miss players like [Marouane] Fellaini, [Adnan] Januzaj, [Robin] van Persie – so you cannot say: ‘OK, so we’ll beat every team.’ But of course it’s a very good result for us and it gives confidence to all the players. So we are going the right way I think.”

This was before a packed 109,318 fans in Michigan Stadium – aka the Big House, for obvious reasons – in an encounter worth up to $20m (£11.9m) to the local economy and which was broadcast live to over 40 nations. The attendance was a record for a “soccer” game stateside, beating the 101,799 who saw the 1984 Olympic gold medal decider at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, in a result that ensures the stakeholders dream final.

The competition organisers – the Premier League, Major League Soccer and the US Soccer Federation – would all hope for a box-office encounter between two behemoths of the global game that would maintain the exponential growth of football, which is the bottom line for events like these.

The showpiece match was news to Van Gaal, who said: “It’s Liverpool in the final? OK, thank you. It’s also good for English football and very important that two teams from the Premier League will play in the final but also for them it is preparation time. It doesn’t say anything but it is better to win than lose.”

Despite Van Gaal’s objections regarding how the tour is impacting on his ability to ready the players, he appears to be warming to it. “It’s amazing,” the Dutchman said of the mammoth Big House capacity. “Yesterday when I was asked why Manchester United are here I gave sporting reasons and great clubs in this tournament and the commercial activities. But I forgot to say that within 14 days we have played for more than 300,000 fans. We also had the chance to meet the American fans of course. These are very good points.”