Friendlies: United beat Inter on penalties, Totti downs Real

Manager Louis van Gaal was left purring after Manchester United recorded a 5-3 penalty shootout win over Inter Milan in their International Champions Cup Pool A match in Maryland, US.

Despite his side not being able to find the net over 90 minutes, van Gaal felt that the Red Devils' display against the Italian team, featuring former United captain Nemanja Vidic, was better than their 7-0 thrashing of the LA Galaxy and 3-2 victory over Roma.

Best of three

Speaking to United's official website, the Dutch tactician said: "I am very pleased. I think we played by far the best match of our sequence of three.

"I was very pleased with our ball possession - it was much better than the other matches. And I think also the positions were better covered.

"So tonight I was very pleased with the performance of my players, both in the first half and the second half."

Ashley Young, Javier Hernandez, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa - who earned van Gaal's praise for his performance - and Darren Fletcher were on target for United while a miss from Inter's Marco Andreolli proved to be decisive.

Real defeated

In the other Pool A match, European champions Real Madrid slumped to their second pre-season defeat in a 0-1 loss to Roma.

Roma icon Francesco Totti scored the decisive goal in the 58th minute after he swept home a cross from Alessandro Florenzi.

The Giallorossi will next take on their Serie A rivals Inter on Sunday (Singapore time) in Philadelphia while United will face Real in Michigan on the same day.

The next Pool B match involving United's English Premier League rivals Manchester City and Liverpool will take place on Thursday (Singapore time) in New York.

Source: AFP, Manchester United official website