Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United were better than Real Madrid yesterday although they lost  2-1  at Old Trafford .

Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United were better than Real Madrid yesterday although they lost 2-1 at Old Trafford .

The Portuguese Nani was controversially given a red card in the second half for a foul on Alvaro Arbeloa, with Real Madrid  going on to score twice shortly after that.

Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo scored rapidly but Jose Mourinho said after the game that they were lucky to qualify.

“Independent of the red card decision, the best team lost,” Mourinho told ITV after the final whistle.

“We are happy to have qualified but I expected more.

“When your keeper is your best player it shows you are not controlling the game as you should.

“We didn’t play well, but football is like this.”

“I was waiting for my team to come here and to express our football in a different way,” he said.

“I know they (United) are giants, not just physically, but mentally.

“I know they are fantastic, I know they have a manager who can motivate people and organise people, but I was waiting for us to come here and play a different way.”

He was asked to give his thoughts on the next round and on whom he thought was a serious threat : “We’ve removed a big one, but the Champions League is full of good teams.

“Nobody speaks about Dortmund, I played them in the group phase, they are fantastic.

“Nobody talks about Celtic, from Milan-Barca a big team will come too, I don’t know, Paris, Valencia, Bayern. There are so many teams, so many obstacles, but this one was important, particularly after the first leg.”