Real Madrid and Barça meet in Jeddah to bring Saudi Arabia's saga to a footballing close
The second Clasico of the season will be played at the King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. With a capacity of 62,000, this majestic venue has already seen Real Madrid win the Spanish Super Cup final against Atlético Madrid in 2020. The stadium where Benzema plays his matches for Al-Ittihad.
But this Super Cup will go down in history for other extra-sporting situations that have kept the news on the pulse of the news these days in the absence of a slightly more interesting semi-final. Athletic Bilbao were no match for Barça because they are focused on qualifying for the Champions League and playing the Europa League final at San Mamés. Mallorca enjoyed the party, but after 60 minutes they had already conceded the first goal and hardly did any damage to the white club.
The final will be different. In the box, the tension can be cut with a knife. Joan Laporta in front of Rafael Louzán, the new president of the RFEF, and some regional presidents with whom he almost came to blows a few days ago. No one from the Government because the country does not deserve the attention of Ernest Urtasun, a guy who at weekends is more about going to the cinema with the family than attending the inauguration of Notre Dame with leaders from all over the world.
Neither will the CSD be there, nor its president. José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes has not shown his face in the days when the government body most needed to defend itself against the attacks from all sides. The injunction granted to Barça for the registration of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor deserved an explanation to prevent anyone from thinking that the Puigdemont-Illa-Sánchez clique had anything to do with Barcelona being allowed to live outside the law.
The two players will be on the pitch at the King Abdullah Stadium if that is what Flick thinks, and they deserve it. Footballers should not be prevented from playing by the usual Spanish bureaucratic mazes, but the rules apply to everyone and the government, through the CSD, has leapfrogged over LaLiga and the RFEF to set a dangerous precedent with other clubs.
On the sporting side, a Clásico to measure how the two Spanish giants get to 2025 and the Champions League, which this season does not stop in January. The Catalan side are going from strength to strength in Europe, while the Spanish league is fading away with a significant drop in Lewandowski's performance. Ancelotti has found the perfect midfield: Valverde and Camavinga to guard Bellingham's back four while Vinicius and Mbappé share the goals alongside Rodrygo.
The first trophy of the season could be Real Madrid's second after the Club World Cup, a trophy they could win again in June thanks to the business machine that FIFA has become. If Olmo or Víctor scores, the memory will be of a rigged competition to finish without a record this season. Real Madrid's complicit silence is the best loudspeaker for this whole charade in Arabia.