Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP)
The guests are aiming for the trophy: invited to participate in a revamped Spanish Supercup, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid meet on Sunday (6:00 p.m. GMT / 7:00 p.m. French) in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) in the final of a controversial edition, whose outcome could weigh on the rest of the season.
Contrary to custom, neither the winner of the last Spanish championship, nor the winner of the last King's Cup are present in the Super Cup final: the new format of this trophy, in the mode of a "final four ", was fatal to Barça (eliminated 3-2 by Atlético) and to Valencia (3-1 by Real), absent from the final Sunday at the Roi-Abdallah stadium (62,000 places).
First Supercup for four, unusual programming in January, first in Saudi Arabia, criticism of respect for human rights ... Many aspects have been debated for this new shaken formula, which could set the tone for the end of the season, or even of the future of this competition for which the Gulf country has paid 120 million euros over three years, according to the Spanish press.
- Real-Atlético, decisive revenge -
Hence a "delocalized" derby between the two Madrid rivals in the final, revenge for the 2014 Supercup, where Real had been beaten (1-1, 1-0) by Atlético, and especially by the two League finals champions won in recent years by the "White House" against its neighbor "rojiblanco" (2014, 2016).
After a mixed start to the season and a glaring lack of goals, Atlético has been breathing again since December: the Colchoneros have scored eleven times in their last five games, and above all have found their "grinta", the DNA of the team, after their forceps victory in the semi-final against Barça.
This implausible turnaround has "brought up something that Atlético will always have: from the heart, from envy, from will," summed up coach Diego Simeone.
"Yesterday (Friday) there were five watching the game, and that gives me a lot of strength and hope. My energy is my footballers. When I see that my players are good, I have afraid of nothing, "he warned on Saturday.
The Atlético will, however, appear without their captain Koke, scorer on Thursday but diminished by muscle discomfort.
If the positive effects of this Supercup are already felt among the "Colchoneros", a coronation in the final would revive them for the second part of the championship and the knockout stages of the Champions League, where the defending champion, Liverpool (February 18 and March 11).
- Real is ready, "earthquake at Barça" -
But beware of Zinedine Zidane's Real, perhaps the most impressive team in Spain in recent times. Even without Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, preserved, the merengue team seems in steamroller mode, ready to win a first trophy this season.
"We came for that, we prepared for it. It is the law of this club: it is a big club, the players live to play these kinds of matches. It is an important match, there has a trophy at stake, "said Zidane on Saturday in search of his tenth title on the Real bench, his first since returning to the bench in March 2019.
If the Supercup seems to have galvanized the Madrid clubs, it also caused an "earthquake" at Barça, as the Catalan daily newspaper Sport reported on Saturday.
The elimination greatly weakened the Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde and the position would have been offered to Xavi, the former Barcelona legend (1998-2015) now coach of the Qatari club of Al Sadd, according to several specialized Spanish media.
"Offensive to Xavi," wrote the newspaper Mundo Deportivo, saying that Valverde had "no more credit." Proof of the impact of this experimental Supercup.
© 2020 AFP