22/07/2017 09:30, Report by Mark Froggatt in Los Angeles

Paul Pogba believes the upcoming matches against Real Madrid and Barcelona are important to Manchester United’s long-term ambition to become the best team in Europe.

The Reds have so far beaten MLS teams LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake on Tour 2017, presented by Aon, as well as Premier League rivals Manchester City in Thursday’s match in Houston, Texas.

The next big challenge is the International Champions Cup encounter with La Liga champions and UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Sunday.

Pogba is unlikely to start that game after playing the full match against Pep Guardiola’s Blues, as Jose Mourinho plans to rotate his squad to give everybody fitness-building minutes in the US.

Whichever players are selected to face Zinedine Zidane’s kings of Europe, Pogba believes United will step up and relish the challenge of competing against the best.

"The big games keep on coming,” Pogba told MUTV following the comfortable victory in the Manchester derby this week. “The players in the next team want to play against the best. We want to play against the best, we want to beat the best and we want to become the best.

“Those games are very important for us because it is not like the game against Real Salt Lake when they want to prove themselves against Manchester United. You try to play but mentally it is different. Now it is a big team, as big as Manchester United. You don't want to lose against them.”

The match against Real Madrid kicks off at 14:00 in the US and 22:00 BST in the UK. It will be shown live on MUTV via the club's linear TV channel, MUTV.co.uk (in the UK) and the MUTV App (rest of the world).