Real Madrid, for their 100th victory in the Clásico

Centenary. The Real Madrid can become tonight the first opponent to defeat 100 times the Barcelona in official competitions. At the moment, the balance of the 247 Classics disputed (52 draws) is as follows: 99 wins and 412 goals for the Whites and 96 wins and 402 goals for the Barça team.

Saudi Arabia. Riad will be the fifth city to host a Classic officer after Madrid (123), Barcelona (119), Valencia (4) and Zaragoza (one). The King Fahd Stadium It will be number thirteen to host a non-friendly classic. The last five duels between Barcelona Y Real Madrid They have been played in four different stadiums: Camp Nou (From), Santiago Bernabeu (one), Alfredo Di Stefano (one and King Fahd (one).

Go out to win. None of the seven classics played on neutral ground ended in a draw and only one of them (2011) had an extension: Barça 3-1 Madrid (May 13, 1902 at the Hipódromo de la Castellana); Madrid 2-1 Barça (June 21, 1936 in Mestalla); Madrid 4-0 Barça (June 29, 1974 at the Vicente Calderón); Barça 2-1 Madrid (June 4, 1983 in The Romareda), Barça 2-0 Madrid (April 5, 1990 at Mestalla); Madrid 1-0 Barça (April 20, 2011 at Mestalla); and Madrid 2-1 Barça (April 16, 2014 at Mestalla).

Super Cup. Real Madrid and Barcelona have met 14 times in the Spain Supercup (seven double-game editions), with a very favorable balance to the merengue team, which added eight victories and two draws and only conceded four defeats. However, in terms of titles in the tournament, the Catalan club has an advantage (13-11), although it has not won it for four years.

Almost 120 years. Real Madrid and Barcelona have not met in a one-game semi-final since May 13, 1902, in the Coronation Cup. That was the first official duel between the two clubs and ended with a 1-3 victory for culé. Marked Steinberg (two and Gamper for Barça, while Arthur Johnson he made the only goal for Real. Since then, whenever they have seen the faces in a direct duel to a single match (seven times) they have done so in the finals of Cup (four for Madrid and three for Barça).

Streak. Real Madrid have won the last four official Classics they have played (2-0 and 1-3 in 2020 and 2-1 and 1-2 in 2021). There are only two better streaks in the 120-year history of this duel: seven in a row for Madrid between 1962 and 1965 and five in a row for Barça between 2008 and 2010.

Neither Ramos, nor Messi. It will be the first edition of the Spanish Super Cup without Sergio Ramos or Lionel Messi since 2005. On that occasion, Barcelona and Real Betis played the tournament (on August 13 and 20), but Messi was not called up for any of both games (although he did travel to Seville for the first leg, but saw it from the stands). Messi is the player with the most games (20), minutes (1,672), goals (14), wins (nine) and titles (seven) in the history of the tournament. The Argentine, now at PSG, is also the second best assistant (five), only behind the Portuguese Luis Figo (six).

Xavi. The culé coach will play his first classic as a coach, after having participated in 42 as a player, a figure that only Messi (45) and Ramos (45) surpass. These are the players with the most Classics played who, later, also lived this duel from the benches: Luis Enrique (31 as a player and 6 as a coach), Di Stefano (30 as a player and 10 as a coach), Amancio (29 as a player and 2 as a coach) and César (28 as a player and 2 as a coach). The last five classics that Xavi played were the first five of Ancelotti as coach of Real Madrid.

Veteran. Dani alves (38 years and 251 days) could become tonight the second oldest footballer to play the Spanish Super Cup, only behind Amadeo Carboni, who lost with him Valencia the 2004 edition before the Real Zaragoza with 39 years and 140 days. Other illustrious veterans who played this tournament include Donato (37 years and 241 days in 2000), Buyo (37 years and 223 days in 1995) and Miguel Angel Nadal (37 years and 30 days in 2003).

Referee. It will be the first Classic for Jose Luis Munuera Montero, who will also become the first Jaen referee to lead a Madrid-Barça. Yes there were two players from the province of Jaén that disputed Classics: Urban (Beas de Segura, 14 with Barcelona) and José Luis Espinosa (La Carolina, 2 with Madrid). Barcelona has added ten victories, two draws and one defeat with Munuera Montero in official matches, while Madrid accumulated five victories, one draw and one defeat with this referee.