The Spanish Super Cup is for Real Madrid

Real Madrid won the Spanish Super Cup after a 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the final played in Riyadh. Luka Modric (38 ') and Karim Benzema (52') were on target for the Whites. In the penultimate minute, their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved a penalty, and for the violation of it Eder Militao was sent off with a direct red card.

This is the 12th Super Cup of the country in the endless showcase of Real Madrid trophies. However, Barcelona has the most such cups - 13. Earlier this week in Saudi Arabia, "Los Merengés" had beaten the Catalans in one semifinal of the competition, and in the other Bilbao had defeated the champion of La Liga Atletico Madrid. However, as Barça lifted the Spanish Cup last season, the paradox was that Real reached the Super Cup without having triumphed at home before. Athletic Bilbao, which has won the Super Cup to this day, did the same a year ago.

The match tonight was marked by two debates. In the 11th minute the ball deflected into the hands of Real defender David Alaba, who was in his penalty area, but a penalty was not awarded. At the beginning of the second half, however, in a similar situation, a handball by Jeray Alvarez on the Athletic field was considered a penalty kick. Benzema made it 2-0 in the 52nd.



Alaba is back in the game for Real after missing El Clásico on Wednesday due to injury. Out, however, were Daniel Carvajal (coronavirus) and Marco Asensio (contusion), who were starters in the semifinals.

The coach of the team from Bilbao Marcelinho trusted the same starting 11 from the semifinals. Inyaki Williams and Oyhan Sunset launched an attack.

Expectations that the Basques would close from the very beginning were not met. On the contrary - they bravely threw themselves into martial arts and tried to attack at every opportunity. So in the 11th minute David Alaba stopped the ball with his hand in his penalty area, but it seems that the referees decided that this was unintentional in the natural position of the hand, which did not result in a penalty.

Real made their first dangerous shot in the 19th minute through Benzema, but Unai Simon took a corner. In the ensuing cross, the Athletic goalkeeper made a mistake in coming out for the ball, but he was lucky that Militao failed to direct it into the net.

Ancelotti's players controlled the game, but there were no dangers. So someone had to shine with individual performance. In the 38th minute, this was done by Rodrigo, who invaded from the right wing and dragged three players of Bilbao, then passed to Modric, who with a precise shot made Simon helpless - 1: 0 for Real.

The Basque Lions were on the verge of an equalizer in the 45th minute when Sunset fired dangerously, but the ball went inches above the crossbar.

Nico Williams appeared at the beginning of the second half of the field for Athletic, who brought victory over Atletico in the semifinals.



This second half was marked by a controversial situation early on. In the 50th minute, Benzema's shot went into the hands of Jeray Alvarez, who was in his penalty area. The VAR alerted the chief arbitrator, who initially overlooked the situation. After reviewing the recording, Cesar Soto Grado pointed to the white dot.

Benzema was infallible from the subsequent blow - 2: 0.

Marcelinho reacted with a triple substitution in the 58th minute in an effort to bring his team back into the match. One of the players who appeared - Raul Garcia, failed to reduce in the 64th. Athletic looked for a way to break through the Los Blancos defense, but failed.

Real calmly finished the match until the 86th minute. Then Raul Garcia won another high ball single combat and headed. However, the ball stopped in Militao's hand and after assistance from the VAR, the referee awarded a penalty for Bilbao and sent off the Brazilian defender with a direct red card.

After that, however, Raul Garcia failed to realize the penalty, as he shot hard in the middle and Courtois kicked.

Then the Basques failed to do anything in the remaining seconds.