Real Madrid thrashed Tianjin Teda 6-0 in a pre-season friendly Saturday as they wrapped up their China tour with a warning to fierce rivals Barcelona ahead of their Spanish Super Cup clash. Boss Jose Mourinho said the emphatic scoreline - coupled with a 7-1 smashing of Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday - was proof he did not need to enter the transfer market again for a forward.
He had been quoted as saying recently he was after another striker, but he jokingly declared afterwards that was the fault of the Spanish press for not understanding his English. The Portuguese - who had been forced to flee a 200-strong mob of screaming fans in Guangzhou - admitted the intense interest in his side on the tour had been testing.
Real take on La Liga and Champions League winners Barcelona over two legs this month in the Super Cup, the traditional curtain-raiser to a season in which Mourinho will be expected to overhaul Barcelona at home and in Europe. With the score 2-0 at half-time Real asserted their authority in the second period as striker Gonzalo Higuain made it 3-0 with some nifty dribbling in the box, sending it low past an exposed Song. It took second-half substitute Cristiano Ronaldo less than 10 minutes to get on the scoresheet by crashing in a left-footed effort from 12 yards. Frenchman Karim Benzema, who has enjoyed a prolific pre-season, swiftly added a double to make it 6-0.