On Sunday, the Real Madrid players will face FC Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.
In Thursday’s second semi-final match in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, they beat Atletico Madrid with Slovak defender Dávid Hanck 2:1.
The four-team tournament is traditionally played in Saudi Arabia, and only Barcelona and Real alternate at the highest level in the past four years.
Atlético only won the Super Cup in 2014, but they are doing well against Real. In September, they won clearly 5:2 in La Liga and lost only twice in their last ten matches.
Argentinian coach Diego Simeone’s men believed in each other in Jeddah, especially when the opponent was missing La Liga’s top scorer Frenchman Mbappé due to a knee injury.
Uruguayan Federico Valverde opened the scoring in the 2nd minute, beating Jan Oblak with a free kick. Atletico had several chances to equalize before the end of the half, but Thibaut Courtois held Real.
VIDEO: Beautiful goal Valverdeho
In the 55th minute, Rodrygo, who took advantage of Valverde’s pass, increased the lead of the “white ballet”.
VIDEO: Rodrygo scored to make it 2:0
Atletico reacted quickly and Norwegian Alexander Sorloth reduced the score to 1:2 in the 58th minute. In the 82nd minute, Antoine Griezmann got to the ball after Hanck’s cross, but his acrobatic finish did not equalize.
Even Julian Alvarez’s shot was missed in added time.
