• Madrid Super Cup frenzy in Arabia for the glory of Madrid, King of kings of the impossible against Atlético

The Spanish Super Cup played in Saudi Arabia began its first semi-final with Real Madrid locked in and Atlético de Madrid braiding a play of more than 20 passes. Kepa hit balls and Oblak played at Hermoso's feet. And a game that was presumed to be close, ended with eight goals and with a few more chances. "I didn't enjoy it, it was a very open game," said Carlo Ancelotti in the post-match.

They played a team with a reputation for offense and another with a great defensive tradition. In fact, Real Madrid finished the first half of the domestic competition with 40 goals, a far cry from those leagues of 100 points and 100 goals.

Atlético de Madrid have conceded 23 goals. If he were to repeat the results in the second half of the season, it would be the worst number of goals conceded in the Simeone era. "The coach is not working in the best way for the team to defend better," the Argentine coach explained on television.

With these wickers, and taking into account that Real Madrid still do not have a goal-scoring striker, a low-scoring game could be expected. Nothing could be further from the truth. The match was a back and forth from the first minutes. The curious thing is that it wasn't the strikers who scored the opponent's goals. "We deserved the win," Joselu said after the game.

Hermoso, a centre-back, was in charge of opening the scoring from a corner. Rudiger replied from another quarter of a circle and Mendy put the Whites ahead with a goal from 9 minutes. The German centre-back would repeat, but in his own goal in the 80th minute of the second half, 2-3 for Atlético.

It's a good thing Carvajal, named MVP, popped up to level before the end of the 90 minutes. Savic, who did not have the best of nights, scored the own goal that doomed his team in the twilight of extra time. It's not so strange, the Montenegrin has more own goals, five, than he has scored, three, since he became a colchonero. The world turned upside down.

Top scorer for the Red & Whites

Then, like someone shaking the sphere to get things back to normal, Antoine Griezmann appeared. The Frenchman had barely touched the ball in the first half until in the 36th minute he hooked the ball, cut back to Modric with a backheel that sent him against Rudiger and put in a right-footed shot, his bad foot, to become the top scorer in the history of the red and whites, breaking the tie with the legendary Luis Aragonés. That's 174 goals for the petite French striker.

Before the match restarted, the French striker ran to get hold of the ball with which he had marked a new step in the history of the red and whites. Koke could have saved the tear with which he left the tunnel for his teammate's big moment. Theirs will also come, but not this season. The red-and-white captain has played in 38 derbies. He is five behind Sergio Ramos (43) to become the player who has played in the most derbies in history.

Boos

Not a few Tony Kroos has played. Ten seasons already at the white club, the most applauded team at the Al Awwal stadium, home of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Al Nasser. The exception, in fact, was the German, who was whistled by the crowd from the moment he came off in the second half for saying that "the lack of human rights" is what would prevent him from playing in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis enjoyed 120 minutes of intense football and also a few from Güler, a player who got the biggest ovation of the night with Brahim's permission who closed the scoring with a run with Oblak behind as if they were the roadrunner and the coyote. "We had it at 3-2, but next Thursday we have our revenge," said Koke, while his coach did not want to talk about revenge in the cup match that will face them next Thursday.

  • Spanish Super Cup
  • Atletico Madrid
  • Real Madrid