Real Madrid win Riyadh derby after five goals and extra time
The Spanish Super Cup returned to Riyadh for the first semi-final between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. The two Madrid teams will meet twice more in the coming days. The next, a single match in the Copa del Rey at the Metropolitano and, later in La Liga, at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The match in Riyadh was special for Los Blancos as the only game they have lost in La Liga was against Atlético at the home ground after a powerful display of aerial balls that Morata finished off in front of Kepa's passivity. On this occasion, the Basque goalkeeper has returned to the starting line-up for the Super Cup because Ancelotti is not sure who to give the rest of the competitions to as Lunin has shown great form.
At Riyadh's Al-Awwal Park stadium, where the 24,000 or so fans usually watch Cristiano Ronaldo score goals every game, there were eight goals in 120 minutes between the two teams from the Spanish capital.
Hermoso opened the scoring duel, Rüdiger equalised a day after the death of another great German centre-back Beckenbauer, then Mendy made it 2-1, Griezmann 2-2, Rüdiger own goal made it 2-3, although the blunder came from Kepa and Carvajal rounded off a superb game to make it 3-3.
A few lines that should be written without punctuation marks to make the reader aware of the wear and tear suffered by those who watched the match on television in Spain. Six goals in 90 minutes in a constant back and forth where nothing seemed to matter but scoring one more goal. In fact, Atlético's 2-3 didn't even seem definitive for Simeone's team, who ended up with the goal behind 11 players in an awful defensive display that was finished off by the 2 blanco.
Even Mono Burgos on Movistar got angry and reproached his friend Simeone's team for backing off when they were in control of the scoreboard and there were barely 15 minutes left. Correa and Azpilicueta were not up to the task, while for Madrid Joselu, Ceballos and Güler were more important.
The match went into extra time amid continued booing from the Saudi fans for Kroos. The German midfielder has been harsh on football in this part of the world, first refusing to go to the World Cup in Qatar and then criticising players leaving Europe with a career ahead of them to play in the Arabian competition.
But the German had to pay homage to Beckenbauer and continue in white at the highest level. He did so, later saying on his social media that it had been a "very enjoyable" game.
Real Madrid won extra time with five minutes to go. A carom between Joselu, Savic and Brahim that ended up incomprehensibly going into Oblak's goal. The goalkeeper went up to meet a corner out of time and found Brahim in a sprint, who beat him with pace to make it 5-3 almost from midfield and put Madrid in another Super Cup final.
On Sunday at 20:00 at the Al-Awwal Park stadium, Real Madrid awaits the best between Xavi's needy Barça and Osasuna, who are playing in this tournament for the first time and are looking to spring a surprise and put the Catalan side in even more trouble.
