RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — After an own goal, goalkeeping mistakes and a milestone from Antoine Griezmann, Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a thrilling extra-time victory in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday .
Two late goals gave Madrid a 5–3 win over their rivals in the match, with Griezmann firing past Luis Aragonés. Atlético’s all-time top scorer With 174 goals.
Madrid will play Sunday’s final against Barcelona or Osasuna, who meet in Riyadh on Thursday.
“It was a back-and-forth match,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “They performed well in the first half and we were able to improve in the second half. Both teams played very well. It was a great match, we won because we had a little more energy at the end.”
Atlético took the lead six minutes into the match with Mario Hermoso’s header from Griezmann’s cross, but Madrid went ahead with goals from Antonio Rudiger in the 20th and Ferland Mendy in the 29th.
Griezmann scored his milestone goal in the 37th minute with a low right-foot shot from outside the area after using a brilliant move to change direction and slip past defenders. The France forward had been scoreless in three consecutive games after scoring twice for Aragonés to equalize against Getafe in the Spanish league in December.
Rüdiger’s own goal in the 78th put Atlético ahead again, before Dani Carvajal equalized in the 85th to send the game into extra time. Rudiger’s own goal came after a mistake by Madrid goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga while going for a crossed ball in the area. Kepa could not catch the ball and it hit Rudiger and went into the back of the net.
Madrid took the lead late in extra time when Atlético defender Stefan Savic caught his own net while trying to stop a cross from Carvajal in the 116th, and Brahim Diaz headed wide after Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak headed wide. Hitting the net in stoppage time to seal Madrid’s victory. Try to help your area attack in another way. Diaz quickly passed Oblak near midfield to reach the ball and send it into the open net.
Diaz was shown his only yellow card of the game for taking off his shirt during the celebration. No Madrid derby has gone without a yellow card since 1974.
It was the first of three matches between the Madrid rivals in less than a month. They will also meet in the Copa del Rey at Atletico’s Metropolitano stadium next week and in the Spanish league at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium in February.
Madrid had won their last five matches in all competitions and are on a 20-match unbeaten run. The team’s only defeat this season came against Atlético in the Spanish league in September.
Diego Simeone’s side performed strongly after the home win against Madrid, advancing to the Champions League knockout rounds and moving closer to the top of the Spanish league, but have won only two of their last six games in all competitions. Achieved and was out. Place in the Spanish League out of the Champions League.
Atlético and Madrid also met in the 2020 Super Cup final, which Madrid won on penalties, with the competition being moved to Saudi Arabia for the first time in a lucrative multi-year deal for the clubs and the Spanish Football Federation.
There was a mostly quiet crowd during Wednesday’s match, and there was a lot of laughing and joking during a moment of silence in respect German great Franz BeckenbauerWho died this week.
Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos, who has criticized the decision of top players to play in Saudi Arabia, was also booed by the Saudi crowd.
The new “Final Four” format of the Super Cup brings together the top two teams of the Spanish league and the last two Copa del Rey finalists from the previous season.
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