Sports, World News, Spain
Carlos Medrano Araujo
January 15, 202
Real Madrid’s head coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the Madrid shirt and Barcelona’s head coach Xavi Hernandez lifts the Barcelona shirt, both teams dispute the final of the Spanish Super Cup. Twitter (@RFEF)
FC Barcelona beat Real Betis on Thursday, January 12 and Real Madrid beat Valencia on Wednesday, January 11. The two Spanish giants will face each other in the Spanish Super Cup Final taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Real Madrid had struggled to beat Valencia. After Benzema’s penalty shot to put Los Merengues ahead, Samuel Lino was Valencia’s protagonist when he tied for his team at 46', barely 25 seconds after the first pass in the second half.
Despite Vinicius’ and Fran Pérez’s attempts, the goalkeepers of both teams were the real stars of the night, constantly denying possible dangerous goals. As neither team did damage in overtime, they eventually went to a penalty shootout.
When the Swiss Eray Cömert missed his shot by shooting over the goal and José Gayá’s shot was stopped by Courtois, it seemed like Valencia’s path to the final had come to an end. As all the Real Madrid kickers succeeded in their penalties, including Benzema, Modrić, Kroos, and Asensio, the Madrid team was confirmed to be one of the two finalists.
Similarly, Los Blancos’ nemesis, the Blaugrana team suffered greatly to defeat the Verdiblancos from Betis. Lewandowski scored the opening goal at 40’ after receiving a pass from Dembélé. From then, the team led by the Chilean Mauricio Pellegrini had multiple chances to tie the game, but it wasn't until 77' that Fekir took advantage of the empty penalty box and beat Ter-Stegen with an accurate shot.
The game went on to overtime where Ansu Fati defeated Claudio Bravo with a volley at 92’. Just eight minutes later, Moron scored a goal that surprised both the Uruguayan defender Araújo and the goalkeeper Ter-Stegen, making it 2-2 for Betis.
In the penalty shootout, Ter-Stegen phenomenally stopped William Carvalho’s and Juanmi’s penalties, while the Barcelona players all succeeded and managed to qualify for the grand final of the Spanish Super Cup to Barcelona.
It will be the eighth time that Real Madrid and Barcelona face each other in the Spanish Super Cup championship match. Real Madrid has won six times, with the most recent being in 2017 when they won by an aggregate score of 5-1. A single victory belongs to Barcelona in 2011, when they won 5-4 on aggregate with Messi's volley goal.
The plan that worked for Xavi Hernandez and thus stop Vinicius Junior was to put Ronald Araújo as a right back. He revealed that he is likely to repeat the formula this Sunday at the King Fahd International Stadium. This could be viewed as a determined attempt to earn a win since "Los Blancos" has totally dominated the record and Barcelona lately has been very unreliable to close out matches.
Real Madrid seeks to tie with Barcelona in Super Cup titles by earning its 13th, while the Blaugrana want to increase that minimum advantage and remain the king of the Spanish Super Cup, making the game even more fascinating and unpredictable than it has always been. The match will take place Sunday, January 15 at 2 PM EST at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Share This Post On
0 comments
Leave a comment
You need to login to leave a comment. Log-in
