Real Madrid win their 12th Spanish Super Cup

A 2-0 win in Riyadh saw Real Madrid win the Spanish Super Cup

Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao travelled all the way to Saudi Arabia to contest this season’s Spanish Super Cup final. It was contested today, Sunday, January 16, in the stunning King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.

The two Spanish sides ended up playing each other in Riyadh after a controversial deal was struck in 2020 for the cup matches to be played there until 2029. A 2-0 win for Madrid, over last year’s winners, saw them lift the cup for the 12th time, moving them one win behind Barcelona.

Luka Modric, set up by Rodrygo, opened the scoring in the 38th minute with a sublime curled effort into the top left-hand corner of the Bilbao net. The expected goal from Karim Benzema arrived in the 51st minute, courtesy of a penalty following a handball against Yeray Alvarez, that went to VAR.

Bilbao could have pulled a goal back late in the game, but Raul Garcia’s penalty kick was saved by the foot of Thibaut Courtois. Madrid’s central defender Eder Militão received a red card for the incident that led to the penalty.
After a trophyless season under Zinedine Zidane, this was a perfect tonic for Los Blancos, with Carlo Ancelotti commenting, “This is the motivation for us to keep going. We have to keep competing like this”.
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