Real Madrid have scrapped through to the final of the Spanish Super Cup (Supercopa) after beating rivals Barcelona in extra time.
It took the La Liga leaders extra time to book their place in the Supercopa de Espana final on Wednesday evening, after Federico Valverde came off the bench to score the winner in what proved to be a nervy clasico in Saudi Arabia.
The end to end action clasico saw Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid lead three times throughout the 120-minute action, but gave up the lead on two occasions when Barcelona came from behind twice to equalize through goals from Luuk de Jong and Ansu Fati respectively. Ansu Fati’s late equaliser forced extra time, giving Xavi’s side the motivation as they kept on believing in themselves.
Karim Benzema put a pass through which found Vinicius Junior who fired past Marc-André ter Stegen for the 25th-minute opener. The French also went ahead to restores Madrid’s lead after Luuk de Jong has benefited from an inaccurate clearance from Real Madrid’s Eder Militao.
Vinicius Jnr stole the show as his delightful skills got the out muscled Dani Alves who was operating from the right side of the Blaugrana defence. Meanwhile, Xavi’s side relentlessly gave their rivals a good run for their money by constantly threatening their goal area, mostly through the brilliance of Ousmane Dembele as well as substitutes Pedri and Fati.
Ansu Fati climbed off the bench to score the Blaugrana’s second equaliser in the 83rd minute. His impact in the game since his introduction was obvious as he maneuvered over Eder Militao’s marking to finish off Alba’s cross which forced the game into extra time. His effort was however not enough as Federico Valverde slotted in the for the Los Blancos to book their place in the final.
La Liga holders Atletico Madrid will take on Athletic Bilbao on Thursday in the other semi-final game, with the winner facing Real Madrid who are chasing their 12th Super Cup. The final game would be played on Sunday in Riyadh.
Watch the full highlights below:
