Atletico Madrid 1-2 Real Madrid: Valverde scores stunning free-kick as Real book Spanish Super Cup final against barcelona
Rodrygo and Sorloth were also on target
Real Madrid set up a Spanish Super Cup final against Barcelona after an entertaining 2-1 victory over rivals Atletico Madrid in Saudi Arabia, with Federico Valverde’s stunning free-kick the pick of the goals.
Valverde opened the scoring in the second minute before Rodrygo scored Real’s second early in the second half before replied with a goal of his own.
Los Blancos will take on another other of their rivals Barcelona in Sunday’s final, also in Saudi Arabia, with the Blaugrana seeing off Athletic Club 5-0 on Wednesday.
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Valverde stunner lights up derby
There was barely a minute on the clock when Valverde smashed in a free-kick from distance to send shockwaves around the King Abdullah Sports City stadium.
Rodrygo then probably should put his side after a fast break on the counter which saw him chop inside well before placing his shot too close to Jan Oblak in what was a bit of a let-off for the hosts.
But aside from those two openings, Atletico were on top for the majority of the first half and tested Thibaut Courtois with plenty of efforts as it went on, with Alex Baena seeing a shot saved.
Shortly after, Alexander Sorloth missed a huge chance to turn in Conor Gallagher’s cross but he got his header all wrong.
The hosts then somehow didn’t find the net in a crazy sequence which saw shots from Baena, Julian Alvarez and Marcos Llorente saved, blocked and then go wide of the target.
Rodrygo and Sorloth on target
Real punished their rivals early after the break when Rodrygo’s brilliant touch took him through on goal and the Brazilian made no mistake with the finish.
But moments later Atleti were right back in the game when Guiliano Simeone played a neat one-two with Llorente before picking Sorloth with an excellent cross, with the striker doing the rest to half the deficit.
Courtois then had to be on hand to deny Sorloth’s equalising when his powerful strike was tipped over to keep the hosts ahead.
Atletico ramped up the pressure in the closing stages with Llorente’s effort with five minutes to play just flying the wrong side of the post, just after substitute Antoine Grizemann couldn’t find the net with a volley.