Fourth Spanish Super Cup in Arabia and once again crossing paths between the greatest in the League and some David willing to challenge the current hierarchy and thus liven up the tournament. Real Madrid, Barça, Atlético and Osasuna travel to Saudi lands at different times and dynamics, with the purpose of confirming good trends, looking for a turning point in the season or dreaming of an authentic feat to remember.
REAL MADRID
Copa del Rey Champion 22/23
Leader of the League with a firm step, in the second round of the Champions League after a full victory in the group stage and also alive in the Cup after fulfilling in its debut against the modest Arandina, Real Madrid reaches the Spanish Super Cup with a practically unbeatable dynamic.
The white team is also recovering its strength after a veritable plague of injuries and is arriving in Arabia ready to win its third title in the Saudi country and shake off the bad taste of the last edition, in which it lost to Barça in the final. The possibility of taking revenge against Atlético after the defeat in the Metropolitano league derby, the only one of the course, is another incentive for Carlo Ancelotti's team.
FC BARCELONA
League Champion 22/23
The close league victories against Almería and Las Palmas have not finished clearing up the doubts that the December slump sowed in Can Barça and the Spanish Super Cup brings back good memories for Xavi Hernández, whose team faces the tournament as the possibility of establishing a turning point in a hitherto complicated season.
The tournament served the Barça team in 2022 to reaffirm its competitiveness against Real Madrid, as it took the white team to extra time in the semifinal shortly after Xavi's arrival to the culé bench and at a very complicated moment. In 2023 it was the first title of the new era, a mental boost that Barça is now pursuing again.
ATLETICO DE MADRID
Third League 22/23
Will the third time be the charm for Atlético? The colchoneros, absent in the last edition, fell in the final of the first tournament held in Saudi Arabia in 2020 against Real Madrid. Now they face another Madrid derby with the purpose of improving the semifinal from two years ago, in which they lost against Athletic. With the League, which looked very good a few weeks ago, very uphill after four consecutive away defeats, the Spanish Super Cup could be the morale boost that returns Simeone's men to the right path.
OSASUNA
Copa del Rey runner-up 22/23
The David of this Spanish Super Cup, Osasuna earned the right to rub shoulders among the three greatest in the history of Spanish football with the second cup runner-up finish. After losing that Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid in Seville, the rojillo team dreams of breaking all predictions and achieving the first official national trophy in more than a century of history.
Real Madrid and Atlético will open the tournament this Wednesday from 8:00 p.m. Spanish time, with a Madrid derby like the one played by the two great teams from the capital in the final of the 2020 Super Cup, the first in Saudi Arabia. Then the white team won on penalties, after a decisive action by Fede Valverde when extra time was coming to an end. The Uruguayan made an official effort and stopped Morata's counterattack from behind, who stood alone against Courtois. The Uruguayan was sent off but allowed his team to hold on to the goalless draw, which gave way to the resolution from the eleven meters in which Madrid got heads and Atlético got crosses.
Already on Thursday, also from 8:00 p.m., Barça puts its 2023 title at stake against Osasuna, debutant in the tournament. In the previous match between both teams this season, corresponding to the fourth day of the League, the Blaugrana team won at El Sadar with a goal from Lewandowski from the penalty spot in the final stretch. The final will be played by the winners of both rounds on Sunday, January 14 from 8:00 p.m.
King Saud University Campus
King Saud University Campus
King Saud University Campus
King Saud University Campus
All matches of the tournament will be played at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The stadium, located on the campus of King Saud University, has a capacity of 25,000 spectators and was inaugurated in May 2015. It will replace the King Fahd International Stadium, also in Riyadh, as the venue for the Spanish Super Cups in 2022 and 2023. In 2020, the King Abdullah Sports City hosted the first edition held in Saudi Arabia, with the interruption of 2021, when the competition was held in Córdoba, Málaga and Seville due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Barça and Real Madrid dominate the tournament's record with an iron fist, the blaugranas, current champions, with 14 trophies to their credit compared to 12 for the whites. Behind them are Athletic, champion for the last time in 2021, and Deportivo, now in the third category of Spanish football but winner in their three participations in the tournament. Atlético aspires to enter the group of three-time champions after their titles in 1986 and 2015, while Osasuna dreams of joining Valencia, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Mallorca and Real Sociedad, the one-time winners of the Spanish Super Cup .
Total dominance of Lionel Messi among the top scorers in the history of the Spanish Super Cup. The Argentine star, who won the tournament eight times, doubles Madrid players Karim Benzema and Raúl González with his 14 goals.
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