B/R Experts' UEFA Super Cup Predictions

Stars are set to collide on Tuesday when Real Madrid and Manchester United face off in the UEFA Super Cup.

Champions League winners Real meet Europa League victors United at the National Arena Filip II in Skopje, Macedonia, in the curtain-raiser to the 2017/18 season.

The Red Devils are ahead in terms of fitness, with Los Blancos' domestic season getting under way slightly later. But will that be enough to make the difference? 

Read on for our experts' views on the game.

Adam Digby

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

While Arsenal and Chelsea went head-to-head for the Community Shield, Manchester United will get their 2017/18 campaign under way with a huge test in Macedonia.

Thanks to their Europa League triumph last term, the UEFA Super Cup gives Jose Mourinho's men a chance to see how they measure up against European champions Real.

Zinedine Zidane's favoured 4-3-3 formation will almost certainly be without Cristiano Ronaldo, but it should still allow Mourinho to deploy his preferred 4-2-3-1 system and sit deep, hoping to pick Los Blancos off on the break.

The Portuguese will have plenty of pace on the wing and hope to exploit the space behind Real's full-backs, but his own defence is likely to be tested here.

It is difficult to see beyond another trophy for the Spanish giants, who have too much firepower for a promising, but still incomplete, United team.

Prediction: Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester United

First goalscorer: Casemiro

Dean Jones

Eric Christian Smith/Associated Press

If United want to send out an early warning sign to the rest of Europe, then this is a good time and place.

Mourinho looks like he means business this season—and we all know he usually achieves success in his second season. He would love to use this as a little revenge act on a few figures from his time at Real Madrid, too.

Mourinho's side have been pulling together well during pre-season, and with Paul Pogba now being let off the leash, we will soon start to see an increase in his goal output. I quite fancy him to find the net in this one, and Romelu Lukaku will probably find himself on the scoresheet, too.

Madrid are the best team in Europe at the moment, so they should always be favourites. Ronaldo has travelled, but there is no way he can be at his best yet if he plays, so that gives United increased hope of a win.

Prediction Real Madrid 1-2 Manchester United

First goalscorer: Romelu Lukaku

Karl Matchett

Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

It seems almost inevitable that when a Mourinho side faces a former Mourinho side, there's an element of making the game all about him and his inside knowledge. On this occasion, though, it's his own style that could harm his chances of success.

Juventus, with one of the finest defences in Europe, paid a heavy price in the Champions League final last year, and if Mourinho doesn't learn from that, his United side will be similarly walked over. Real's attack is devastating: attempt to sit deep and hold them off, and they'll pick you apart.

The only way to best them is to go stride for stride, pressing in midfield and being brave enough to attack in numbers.

The Spanish side aren't perfect, but they have greater strengths than other teams—so don't let them get going with what they're good at. Unfortunately, that's what Mourinho builds his teams to do: bed in, don't lose, then grind teams down.

Unless the different stages of pre-season fitness have a telling impact, it's hard to see United doing anything different, and Madrid are used to starting competitively and winning trophies at this point of the year.

Prediction: Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester United

First goalscorer: Karim Benzema

Sam Tighe

Tomas Ovalle/Associated Press

The UEFA Super Cup technically falls in both of these clubs' pre-season stage, and so fitness could be a determining factor in how close the game turns out to be.

Real have only played four games to United's six, and Ronaldo is in the former's squad despite only resuming training at the weekend.

While I still expect Los Blancos to emerge victorious, the difference in fitness and sharpness gives United a fighting chance, and that will most likely lead to goals being shared.

It will be a huge early test for big-money purchase Lukaku, who is yet to prove himself capable of scoring consistently against top teams.

Prediction: Real Madrid 3-2 Manchester United

First goalscorer: Paul Pogba