Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid edged Atletico Madrid 2-1 in a Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Jeddah, setting up a Clasico final against Barcelona.
Fede Valverde’s free-kick and a Rodrygo Goes strike secured the win, while Alexander Sorloth pulled one back for Atletico.
The victory marked Madrid’s fifth consecutive win across all competitions, helping Alonso recover after a period of inconsistent form.
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“After so many games without scoring, today was a great game to get back to it, to help the team win,” Valverde told Movistar after scoring his first goal of the season.
“We have to keep being self-critical too, we had chances but they had more and played much better than us, we have to keep correcting that and improving.”
With Kylian Mbappe sidelined, Alonso kept Gonzalo Garcia upfront after his hat-trick against Real Betis.
Madrid took the lead after two minutes through Valverde’s free-kick, and Rodrygo extended the lead in the 55th minute.
Sorloth pulled one back for Atletico, but late chances from Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente, and Julian Alvarez were thwarted by Thibaut Courtois and narrow misses.
“Atletico came close in the final stages… we’re upset because we wanted to be in the final… we had chances but the ball
