Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso warned Atletico pre-match that they were going to see the best of his side, and Federico Valverde took it upon himself to display that inside two minutes. The Uruguayan stood over a free-kick from all of 35 yards and unleashed a rocket that flew into the roof of Jan Oblak’s goal.
Diego Simeone’s men responded well to falling behind, but as they probed for a route back into the game at one end, they were almost undone at the other. A swift Real counter-attack culminated in Rodrygo driving into the area, but after sitting an Atletico defender down, his curling effort was beaten away by Oblak.
Atletico did finally force Thibaut Courtois into action shortly after the half-hour mark, when Alex Baena’s strike from distance needed palming away to safety by the Belgian stopper.
From the resulting corner, Courtois produced an even better save, showcasing some stunning reflexes to get a hand to Alexander Sorloth’s flicked header just moments before the Norwegian forward incredibly headed over from six yards after being left unmarked by the Real defence.
Despite Atletico’s growing dominance, their lack of clinical edge left the door open for Real to put the game to bed, and they thought they’d done just that within 10 minutes of the restart as Rodrygo collected Valverde’s pass, skipped past a weak Robin Le Normand challenge and fired past Oblak.
Los Blancos’ two-goal cushion didn’t last long, though - just three minutes, in fact - as Los Colchoneros halved the arrears through Sorloth, who climbed highest inside the six-yard box to head home Giuliano Simeone’s teasing delivery.
Simeone’s side continued to probe for a leveller, which nearly arrived when Courtois had to get down smartly to thwart Sorloth at his near post.
An Antoine Griezmann overhead kick was yet another chance that came and went for Atletico in the closing stages, and they were ultimately unable to break Real down as they slumped to a third semi-final exit in their last three Supercopa participations.
Real have now set up a date with Barcelona in what is a repeat of last season’s final, which Real lost 5-2 - a result they’ll hope to avoid replicating on Sunday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)
Check out the match summary here
