Real Madrid hold on and so does Xabi Alonso, all the way to the final. Judgment was due to come in Jeddah but it will be put off for another day at least, and instead of the sack there may be a medal waiting at the end of a month spent on edge after Real defeated Atl\u00e9tico 2-1. Goals from Fede Valverde and Rodrygo set up another Super Cup meeting with Barcelona on Sunday night, opportunity and obligation in one.<\/p>\n
On a night when Madrid scored after 77 seconds, Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s last opportunity to get a result they probably deserved and force a penalty shootout slipped agonisingly away with only 10 more seconds remaining. Juli\u00e1n Alvarez had it, Antoine Griezmann almost did, but, in at last, a shot from the former just evaded the latter. As the ball bounced past the post, it took Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s hopes with it.<\/p>\n
Again, an encounter with their neighbours was hard to take and not that easy to explain either. That was Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s 22nd shot, but they had trailed from the beginning when Gonzalo Garc\u00eda, a 21-year-old replacement for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, chested down to Jude Bellingham inside the first minute. Conor Gallagher challenged him and, although there didn\u2019t seem to be much in it, Real were handed the free-kick from which Valverde belted in the opener.<\/p>\n
From 25 yards and with a poorly constructed three-man wall standing before him, Valverde send a superb shot in a straight, rising arrow past Alex S\u00f8rloth and into the net. It wasn\u2019t right in the corner, but with that side of the goal unprotected, it was far enough away for Jan Oblak, occupying the other side, to be unable to get more than a slight touch upon it.<\/p>\n
Real had taken the lead but Atl\u00e9tico took control. Perhaps because Real had taken the lead. One shot had been enough, and for a while it was all Real had; not that Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s possession immediately yielded opportunities. Slowly, though, they were increasing the pressure, Real dropping ever deeper. \u00c1lex Baena almost released Alvarez, S\u00f8rloth\u2019s effort went over, Alvarez had a shot blocked and Giuliano slipped as he raced into the area going at full, lung-busting pelt which often appears to be the only speed he can go at.<\/p>\n
Only Garc\u00eda was really offering a way out, a constantly reliable recipient of the long ball. But then, just before the half hour, from an Atl\u00e9tico corner that led to a blocked shot from Marcos Llorente, Real were suddenly away and should have doubled their lead. \u00c1lvaro Carreras started the charge before Rodrygo took over, ran into the Atl\u00e9tico area, cut inside, sending the defender sliding past and out of shot, but then, clear now, shot weakly at Oblak. A moment later, Vin\u00edcius headed way over the bar from close range.<\/p>\n
Fede Valverde sent Real Madrid on their way with a goal in the second minute. Photograph: Antonio Villalba\/Real Madrid\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Atl\u00e9tico kept on, Real struggling to resist \u2013 especially on the left, where Carreras was often alone against the dynamism of Llorente and Giuliano. Occasionally moves broke down with the imprecision of Alvarez, a tad slow mentally, and Baena combined incisive passes with imprecise ones. But Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s opportunities did become clearer. On 31 minutes Thibaut Courtois saved from Baena, then he made a superb save from a S\u00f8rloth header at the near post. A moment later, S\u00f8rloth somehow headed over from five yards, if that. Llorente and Giuliano had made it again.<\/p>\n
The lead could have come then and really should have soon after when Baena took the ball from Eduardo Camavinga, dribbled into the area, away from Valverde and Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni. Having made himself space, the toe-end shot was saved by Courtois. The first rebound came to Alvarez, whose shot was blocked by Antonio R\u00fcdiger \u2013 possibly with an arm, seen at full speed, but no slower view followed \u2013 and the second to Gallagher. His shot skewed wide. It was also the last thing he did, withdrawn at half-time. Real had faced 10 shots but made it there still holding the lead.<\/p>\n
And so it started again, everyone soon settling into the same pattern, R\u00fcdiger intervening early. Or so it seemed. A sharp pass from Valverde was taken in his stride by Rodrygo, who escaped Robin Le Normand and slipped through the middle to steer a neat finish past Oblak. This was done, or so that seemed too. Because almost immediately a familiar path this time did bear fruit. Giuliano and Llorente combined to go past Vin\u00edcius, who didn\u2019t do a huge amount to go with them. Giuliano clipped up the cross to the far post, where S\u00f8rloth headed in. There was an hour to go and the game was back on.<\/p>\n
It was an indication of the damage being done that briefly Alonso moved Bellingham across to protect the left and then with 20 minutes left, was obliged to restructure his defence entirely, R\u00fcdiger and Ra\u00fal Asencio were both forced off. Tchouam\u00e9ni moved back, Carreras moved across to join him at centre-back and the two men introduced, Fran Garc\u00eda and Ferland Mendy, became double left-backs. Vin\u00edcius was withdrawn, his 16th Madrid game in a row going by without a goal. On the touchline Simeone, with whom words had been exchanged repeatedly, gestured for him to listen to the supporters who were whistling the Brazilian, another brief confrontation flaring up and Alonso later censoring his counterpart\u2019s behaviour.<\/p>\n
Tiredness told. This was about holding on, seeing out the clock. The good news for Real was that time was passing and Atl\u00e9tico were not creating much now. In fact, Real had the best opportunity, Rodrygo accepting a gift inside the area only to be denied by Oblak, until Atl\u00e9tico raised themselves for one last effort despite the exhaustion. Courtois saved an overhead kick from Griezmann. Llorente, who must have four lungs, curled just wide. And Tchouam\u00e9ni produced a sensational interception to prevent the Frenchman getting the equaliser, until on 95min 33sec Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s moment came and then went again. Resisting, Real\u2019s moment awaits still.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid hold on and so does Xabi Alonso, all the way to the final. Judgment was due…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-400895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}