Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid claimed their first open-play victory over Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in Supercopa de Espana’s current format on Wednesday night (January 10). The teams freely traded blows in the first 90, taking the scoreline to 3-3 and pushing the game to extra time in the semi-final at the Al-Awwal Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In extra time, Los Blancos took complete control of the game and added two more goals to their tally, securing a 5-3 victory over their local rivals.

Defenders Show Their Adventurous Side In Regular Time

From Vinicius Junior to Antoine Griezmann, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have some of the finest attackers in the world. However, it was the defenders who stole the show on Wednesday.

In the sixth minute, Griezmann swung an inviting corner into the Real Madrid box, drawing a superb header out of Atletico center-back Mario Hermoso. Kepa Arrizabalaga was rooted to the spot as the 28-year-old’s effort found its way to the bottom-right corner of the Madrid goal.

Real Madrid did not let the early Atletico goal deter them and got their equalizer through Antonio Rudiger in the 20th minute. The German, shockingly unmarked inside the Atletico box, connected with Luka Modric‘s perfect corner-kick delivery and thumped it past Jan Oblak.

Real Madrid beat rivals Atlético to advance to the Spanish Super Cup final on Cristiano Ronaldo's home turf pic.twitter.com/JOU6ZqvokT

— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 10, 2024

Nine minutes after Rudiger’s equalizer, another Real Madrid defender, Ferland Mendy, got on the scoresheet. The Frenchman applied an ingenious finish to Daniel Carvajal’s clever pass into the box, poking the ball with the outside of his boot to send it into the bottom-left corner.

Griezmann finally broke the defenders’ goalscoring streak with his thumping strike in the 37th minute, restoring parity for Los Rojiblancos.

In the 78th minute, there was a mix-up inside the Real Madrid box, leading to Rudiger’s own goal. Kepa failed to collect Rodrigo Riquelme’s cross into the box, spilling it onto Rudiger and drawing an unfortunate deflection that led to his own goal.

Atletico’s jubilation, however, was short-lived, as Carvajal emerged as Madrid’s messiah just six minutes later. Jude Bellingham’s rebound found its way to the right-back, who applied an unstoppable finish to find the roof of the net, making it 3-3!

Substitutes Save The Day For Real Madrid

Substitutes Joselu and Brahim Diaz scored in extra time to secure Real Madrid’s passage to the final. In the second half of extra time, Joselu connected with Carvajal’s cross into the Atleti box. The Spaniard did not make the best contact, but a fortunate deflection off Stefan Savic ensured Oblak’s defeat.

In the 120+2nd minute, Diaz made full use of his afterburners to seal the win for the All-Whites. Oblak had come up for a long throw into the Madrid box. The Whites, however, stood firm and hoofed it beyond the halfway line. Despite being much closer to the ball, the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper failed to get to it, with Diaz speeding past him and rolling the ball into the net from 35 yards out.

BRAHIM DIAZ WHAT A GOAL!!!

REAL MADRID DO IT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/wwGfok5RVP

— TC (@totalcristiano) January 10, 2024

Had it not been for Ancelotti’s timely substitutions, Los Blancos would not be in Sunday’s final at the Al-Awwal Park, where they will face either Barcelona or Osasuna.