Supercopero classic in Riyadh
Real Madrid and Barça put the first title of the season at stake
MADRID, 13 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid, current champion of the Copa del Rey, and FC Barcelona, current champion of LaLiga EA Sports, will face each other this Sunday at the Al-Awaal stadium in Riyadh (8:00 p.m./Movistar Plus+) for the title of the Super Cup. Spain, in a final in which the whites seek revenge for the trophy lost last season and the azulgranas, apply as a reliable candidate for this entire season.
A year after the match in which Xavi Hernández's men won their fourteenth super cup title against Carlo Ancelotti's team (3-1), the two 'greats' meet again in the Saudi capital with the first title of the year at stake, a trophy that could reinforce the winner's confidence for the remainder of the campaign.
It will also be the second Clásico of the season, after Concha Espina's men attacked the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys with a double from the Englishman Jude Bellingham, overcoming the initial goal from the German Ilkay Gündogan and recovering from a first hour of culé dominance, in the eleventh day of LaLiga.
The Madridistas arrive at the event in excellent shape; They have not lost since last September 24, when they knelt in LaLiga against Atlético de Madrid, their victim precisely in the semifinals last Wednesday (5-3), in their only defeat of the season so far (3-1) .
That setback for Cívitas Metropolitano is far away, and since then they have been intractable. Twenty consecutive games undefeated, with 17 wins and only three draws, and leaders in the domestic competition, although a victory for Girona this Sunday against last-place Almería could momentarily take them off the top of the Primera table.
Now, they will seek the twelfth Spanish Super Cup of their record in the match in which Ancelotti will surpass the Frenchman Zinédine Zidane, his assistant coach during the successful 2013-14 campaign, as the second coach with the most games coached in the history of Real Madrid ( 264), only behind the legendary Miguel Muñoz. Furthermore, if he manages to win the trophy, he will equal 'Zizou's eleven titles.
Up front, the Barça team is looking for the confidence that they have lacked at specific moments of the season. On Thursday, they beat Osasuna in the semifinals (2-0) with goals from Poland's Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal, called upon to once again form the culé attack this Sunday in the Clásico.
The objective is clear: dominate the game and emulate what was achieved in the 2023 final, perhaps one of their best games of the year, when the goals of Gavi – now absent due to injury -, Lewandowski and Pedri offered a victory that reinforced them morally. to later conquer LaLiga.
Without Thibaut Courtois, Éder Militao, David Alaba or Lucas Vázquez, 'Carletto' will make few changes to the team with respect to the semi-final derby, such as bringing on the German Toni Kroos for the Croatian Luka Modric in the midfield. The main curiosity lies in seeing if he will bet on Kepa Arrizabalaga again, despite making some mistakes against Simeone's team, instead of bringing on Andriy Lunin.
Barça, for its part, adds the absence of Raphinha, injured against the Navarrese, to those of Marc-André Ter Stegen, Iñigo Martínez, Gavi and Marcos Alonso, while Joao Cancelo is a doubt due to discomfort in his right knee. In exchange, he gets Pedri back from the start, who was already tested against Osasuna and who will fill the gap of Ferran Torres, and Yamal will start due to the Brazilian's injury.
DATASHEET.
–POSIBLE ALIGNMENTS.
REAL MADRID: Kepa; Carvajal, Nacho, Rüdiger, Mendy; Tchouaméni, Kroos, Valverde, Bellingham; Vinícius and Rodrygo.
FC BARCELONA: Iñaki Peña; Kound, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; De Jong, Sergi Robert, Gündogan, Pedri; Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal.
–REFEREE: Martinez Munuera (C.Valenciano).
–STADIUM: Al-Awaal Park in Riyadh.
–TIME: 20.00/Movistar Plus+.