Riyadh, January 12 (BNA): Real Madrid will get another chance to celebrate the Spanish Super Cup title in Saudi Arabia.
Real Madrid beat Valencia 4-3 on penalties in Wednesday’s semi-final and will attempt to win their third Super Cup in the Middle Eastern country on Sunday.
The defending champions will face either Barcelona or Real Betis, who will play the other semi-final on Thursday. The final will be played at King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, the Associated Press reports.
Valencia defender Iray Commert sent a penalty over the bar and Jose Luis Gaea’s penalty was saved by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to give Madrid the win.
The two teams were tied 1-1 in regulation and were scoreless in overtime. Karim Benzema and Samuel Leno scored on each side.
Benzema also scored the penalty kick in the shootout, as did Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Marco Asensio for Real Madrid. Edinson Cavani, Elix Moreba and Hugo Guillamon scored from the penalty spot for Valencia.
“It was a difficult match,” said Asensio. “We suffered a little bit, but what matters is that we’ve reached the final and we’ll have a chance to win another title.”
This is the fourth edition of the revamped Super Cup, which used to be played only between the La Liga champion and the Copa del Rey winner. The runners-up in both competitions are now taking part as well, making up the Final Four tournament that has been moved to Saudi Arabia in a lucrative deal for the Spanish Football Federation. Real Madrid clinched the league ahead of Barcelona last season, while Betis won the Cup final against Valencia.
Real Madrid won two of the first three editions of the renewed tournament, in 2020 and 2022, and Athletic Bilbao won it in 2021, when the tournament was held in Spain due to the Corona virus pandemic.
Real Madrid opened the scoring with a penalty kick, which Benzema hit in the 39th minute after a foul inside the area following a break.
Valencia equalized less than a minute into the second half as Leno scored from close range after a fine cross from Tony Lato.
Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior had a wonderful opportunity to prevent the match from going into extra time, but his shot from close range five minutes into stoppage time was saved by Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Mamadashvili also made great saves in extra time, as did Courtois.
Real Madrid traveled to Saudi Arabia without defender David Alaba and midfielder Aurelien Choameni due to injuries. Full-backs Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy are with the team but did not start because they were not fully fit, and came off the bench later in the match.
Coached by Gennaro Gattuso, Valencia have been trying to recover from a tough run in which they won just one of their last eight La Liga matches.
“We are proud of the team,” said Valencia midfielder Andre Almeida. “We showed our quality, and we deserved to win.”