Xabi Alonso‘s Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in a tight Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia on Thursday to set up a Clasico final clash against rivals Barcelona.
Fede Valverde’s blistering free-kick and a Rodrygo Goes strike helped Madrid claim a fifth consecutive victory across all competitions, with Alexander Sorloth pulling one back for Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who came up short in Jeddah.
Alonso was close to the sack after a run of inconsistent form towards the end of 2025 but his team have slowly found their footing in the shape of positive results, even if some performances have not been entirely convincing.
The Spanish coach led Madrid to a win over Barcelona in his first Clasico at the helm in October, before his team began to slump.
Valverde’s Breakthrough Goal Helps Real Madrid Secure Semi-Final Win Over Atletico
“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 netting his first goal of the campaign.
“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.”
Alonso did not agree with Valverde’s analysis.
“It’s a semi-final, having scored early gives you that advantage that you want to defend,” said the coach.
“There were phases where we were defending but the objective was to go through to the final, and we’re happy to be playing that on Sunday.”
With French superstar Kylian Mbappe out as he recovers from a knee sprain, Alonso kept young striker Gonzalo Garcia in the centre of the attack after his hat-trick against Real Betis on Sunday.
Atletico beat their city rivals 5-2 when the teams met in September in a La Liga derby but this was a far closer affair.
Los Blancos took the lead after just two minutes when Valverde’s ferocious free-kick flew past Sorloth in a poorly-positioned wall and rocketed past Jan Oblak.
The Norwegian Atletico forward might have done more to block it and Oblak got his hand to the shot but could not keep it out because of the sheer power.
Valverde celebrated vehemently, slapping his own head, clearly delighted at breaking his duck in a difficult season to date.
By taking the lead Real Madrid earned the right to sit deeper and force Atletico to try and attack them to pull back level.
Madrid hit the Rojiblancos when they could on the counter, with Oblak saving well from Rodrygo after he floated inside from the right.
Atletico began to create some chances and could have pulled level before the interval.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois tipped away Sorloth’s header and then the target man clumsily nodded Conor Gallagher’s cross off-target from close range.
Rodrygo’s hot streak
Rodrygo extended Madrid’s lead in the 55th minute with his third goal in five games, continuing a rich vein of form across the past few weeks after a run where he failed to score for 32 games straight.
The Brazilian found a gap to burst through in the middle of Atletico’s defence and kept his cool to sweep the ball past Oblak.
Three minutes later Atletico hit back, with Sorloth finally finding the net with a header from Giuliano Simeone’s cross.
The striker gave defender Raul Asencio just enough of a shove to put him off without being penalised for it before nodding in.
“Valverde scored a great goal, it was an extraordinary free-kick,” said Atletico coach Simeone.
“Despite that my team played very well, but we had to win and didn’t, they had the quality to be able to finish (their chances).”
The Atletico coach goaded Madrid winger Vinicius Junior when he was substituted, with the Brazilian failing to score for a 16th consecutive game.
“I didn’t like that, I saw (Simeone) said something to Vinicius, and for me that goes against the respect that you should have for opponents… you can’t just do anything (you want),” said Alonso.
Madrid face Barcelona on Sunday in the final at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium after the Catalans thrashed Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on Wednesday.
AFP
