When the first El Classico of the season was played in October, Real was an easy winner at Nou Camp and Ronald Koeman was still the coach. Three months later, the winner is still the same, but the losers look much better under Xavi. Real defeated Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final, which is played in Saudi Arabia, but they had to do it the hard way: with three scored goals and in overtime: Real – Barcelona 3:2.1+1 – Karim Benzema 🇫🇷 has both scored and assisted in the same game against Barcelona for the first time in his @realmadriden career in all comps (38 appearances), becoming the first Real Madrid player to do so in #ElClasico since Sergio Ramos 🇪🇸 in May 2009. Super. pic.twitter.com/fiIMsrJayS— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 12, 2022 Saudi Arabia has been desperate to host football’s glitziest fixture and finally managed to with the help of a three-year deal for the Supercopa. And the Riyadh crowd enjoyed a thrilling El Classico, filled with goals, excitement, and plenty of chances. A real El Classico. Again, Barcelona was weakened with injuries, while Real only had Alaba missing, but it turned out that his omission could have been fatal. When Real Madrid opened talks with Chelsea’s Antonio Ruddiger, the player’s agent asked 1.5 billion Ksh annual wage net, and the reply from the Royal club was that they are quite happy with their Alaba – Militao pair of defenders. But after just a week, they were forced to ‘eat their words’ when Militao made two crucial mistakes and allowed Barca to equalize twice and send the game to overtime. Real looks vulnerable when the Austrian is not in the team but in the end, the Royal club managed to prevail and go into the final, where they will meet the better from the Atletico Madrid -Athletic Club match. And they prevailed because they have this magnificent tandem Benzema – Vinicius. Again, these two players scored a goal apiece, and Benzema added an assist too, and continued his already remarkable season. And it’s only January…Real Madrid’s game plan was obvious from the beginning: to use their speed to hurt Barcelona on the counter-attack. And it worked after only 25 minutes, when Busquests, one of the most experienced players on the pitch, was careless with the ball in his own half. Benzema used that, took the ball, and made a quick pass to Vinicius Jr. who was already on the run. The Brazilian was quicker than Araujo and smashed the ball near Ter Stegen’s head for the lead.And then, Real Madrid stopped. Either they wanted to continue with the tactics, or just assumed that it will be enough against Barca, but whatever the reason, it was all Barca until the end of the half. The Catalonians best player of the night, contract rebel Ousmane Dembele was very much alive on the left flank, and his two good crosses in the space of 2 minutes created two chances for Luuk de Jong, but he was not on target. The third time was success thou, but it was more about Militao’s mistake and a bit of luck, than De Jong’s brilliance. It was Brazilian’s poor clearance inside the penalty area which provided De Jong an opportunity for the equalizer. The ball bounced of the bar and into the net: 1-1.Barca continued to attack in the second half as well, but only real chances were created by Dembele (again) and Pedri, who came in for Frankie De Jong. Both players tried their strong shots, and both volleys ended up just near the right post. Real had no team play until the 71st minute when Benzema (who else) scored in his third chance in the space of 2 minutes. Just like De Jong in the first half, the Frenchman had three chances. In the first one, Barca was saved by the bar, the second time it was Ter Stegen but there was no savior for the third time: 2-1. And when everybody thought that the game is over, Xavi introduced young Ansu Fati, and one of the shortest players on the field managed to equalize from a header in the 82nd minute, at the expense of – Militao.In the overtime, Real took the lead for the third and final time this night. It was another counter-attack, which started with three Real players against two Barca’s and ended with 5 against 3, and Valverde’s goal, this time for a definite win. Barca tried to equalize again, but Courtois first saved a shot from Busquets, and then made an even better one after a Dembele blast. Ezzalzouli had two good shots (a header and a volley) but both were just off the post. Barca lost this match but definitely played good and Xavi will be pleased with his team display.SPAIN SUPER CUP – SEMIFINALSWednesday:Barcelona – Real Madrid 2-3 (1-1)/De Jong 41, Fati 82 – Vinicius 25, Benzema 72, Valverde 98/Thursday22:00 Atletico Madrid – Athletic Club
