Real Madrid beat Barcelona by eight goals in Riyadh to make it to the final of the Spanish Super Cup. It was the Madrid derby on tour, and Diego Simeone’s Atletico were the team that Carlo Ancelotti’s team beat 5–3.
The game had it all: a record-setting wonder goal by Antoine Griezmann, boos for Toni Kroos, and the sight of Jan Oblak racing back from the Real Madrid half to try in vain to catch Brahim Diaz, who scored the game’s last goal.
In the seventh minute, Griezmann’s corner was headed in by Mario Hermoso, who was not marked. This gave Atletico Madrid the lead. Simeone’s team got off to a good start, but Madrid took over once Jude Bellingham got going.
When Bellingham took a shot, Jan Oblak pushed it out for a corner. Then, Antonio Rudiger headed Luka Modric’s exact kick past Oblak.
Ancelotti’s team went ahead 10 minutes later when Bellingham played Dani Carvajal down the right and Ferland Mendy flicked the ball past Oblak in a busy area. The goal came after 20 minutes. Atletico star player Antoine Griezmann didn’t do much, so Madrid looked like they were in charge. When he did play, in the 37th minute, he scored a brilliant goal that went into the record books.
He got the ball from Rodrigo de Paul and took Modric with him to the left side of the Real Madrid goal area.
With Modric by his side, he seemed to be going nowhere and only heading toward the huge Rudiger. But he let both of them off the hook by turning inside and hitting right-footed past Kepa Arrizabalaga to tie the game at 2-2.
It was his 174th goal for the club, one more than Luis Aragones, who had been the top scorer since 1974.
Just before halftime, Oblak saved a shot from Rodrygyo that would have tied the game. Just before the 70th minute, Oblak saved another shot from Carvajal that would have given Real Madrid their best chance of the second half.
Toni Kroos had just replaced Modric, and every touch he made was booed. The fans at the Al Awal Park Stadium were reacting to Kroos’ criticism of Gabri Veiga’s choice to move from Celta Vigo to Al-Ahli in the summer. They also laughed during the minute of silence for Frank Beckenbauer.
As time ran out, Alvaro Morata either put his team ahead again or set up the goal that made it 3-2. Rodrigo Riquelme, a substitute, sent a cross from the left side, and when Kepa came to claim it, he dropped it on Rudiger, who was coming in quickly and couldn’t help but head it over the line.
The Chelsea loan player said Morata had bumped into him, but referee Javier Alberola Rojas saw no problem with it and gave the goal.
But Madrid wasn’t done yet. They tied the game again with a level of determination that deserved a goal. At first, Vinicius tried to rush past Hermoso, but Oblak stopped him. When the ball got to Bellingham, Molina and then Hermoso stopped his shots. But Carvajal scored when the ball got to him.
After a crazy run, Madrid’s Brahim Diaz took a shot that went just wide as Atletico held on for extra time.
Besides Bellingham and the subs, everyone else looked like they were out of gas. Two physiotherapists had to work on each of England’s leg muscles to get them back in shape before the game started again. In the first half of extra time, Real Madrid had the upper hand, but Ancelotti had to take Rodrygo and Vinicius off because they were getting tired.
Even though Carvajal was tired, Bellingham was still going strong, and the two of them worked together to win.
At 115 minutes, the fullback sent a cross into the box. Substitute Joselu barely touched it, but it didn’t matter because Stefan Savic stomped the ball into the ground behind him.
It hit Oblak and he tried hard but failed to get it out of the back of his net. The game should have had a more exciting winning goal, but Real Madrid wasn’t upset.
After making things right with a last-minute corner, Oblak stayed up for the next throw-in.
It was still 5-3 when Real Madrid scored, and Diaz ran clear to make it official. This put his team in the final on Sunday, where they will play either Barcelona or Osasuna, whose games are on Thursday night.
