JEDDAH, Saudi Arabi: Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in a tight Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia on Thursday to set up a Clasico final clash against rivals Barcelona.
Fede Valverde’s blistering free-kick and a Rodrygo Goes strike helped Madrid claim a fifth consecutive victory across all competitions, with Alexander Sorloth pulling one back for Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who came up short in Jeddah.
“After so many games without scoring, today was a great game to get back to it, to help the team win,” Valverde told Movistar after netting his first goal of the campaign.
“We have to keep being self-critical too, we had chances but they had more and played much better than us, we have to keep correcting that and improving.”
Alonso did not agree with Valverde’s analysis.
“It’s a semi-final, having scored early gives you that advantage that you want to defend,” said the coach.
“There were phases where we were defending but the objective was to go through to the final, and we’re happy to be playing that on Sunday.” – AFP
