Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP)

The Atlético leg: without shining, but resisting throughout a crazy match, Atlético Madrid managed to get rid of FC Barcelona 3-2 Thursday in the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia ), to join Real Madrid in the final, Sunday (6:00 p.m. GMT).

An angel against kings: author of the last goal of the match (86th), the Argentinian Angel Correa offered the victory to Atlético after an incredible turnaround, and thus avoided a second clasico of the season in final.

While his team was on the verge of breaking in the first period, abused by a ubiquitous Barça in attack, Koke opened the scoring nineteen seconds after the locker room came back (46th) against the course of the game.

But Lionel Messi, in stride (51st), and Frenchman Antoine Griezmann (62nd), allowed the Barcelonians to concretize their numerous scoring chances hitherto rejected by the excellent doorman "rojiblanco" Jan Oblak, to pass in front of 2 -1.

Dumped in all sectors of the game, the men of Diego Simeone, authors of a mixed start to the season, then hung on, despite the two goals denied to Barça by video assistance (Messi 59th, and Piqué 73rd), and believed in their chances of qualifying for the first final of this new version of the Super Cup, disputed in the form of a "four-man final" in Saudi Arabia.

Yet faced with a great Messi, and a very good Griezmann, author of one of his best performances under the blaugranas colors, the Colchoneros equalized thanks to a penalty from Alvaro Morata (81st).

And four minutes before the end, while Barça seemed to be heading straight for a second clasico of the season in the first period (a month after the 0-0 at Camp Nou), the Argentinian Angel Correa signed the goal of the qualification: his shot ended up in the back of the net after being sidestepped by Neto, the Catalan goalkeeper.

A crazy match with an incredible outcome, in a full stadium: that's enough to revive the love of the Spanish for this Supercup, on the verge of death a year ago.

The final between Atlético and Real Madrid will therefore be a "remake" of that of 2014, where the Colchoneros won 1-1, 1-0 against the Merengues.

© 2020 AFP