Real Madrid will play either Barcelona or Real B*tis in the 2022/23 Supercopa de Espana final after eventually securing a penalty shootout win over Valencia in their semi-final tie.
Los Blancos came into the mini-tournament in Saudi Arabia off the back of a La Liga defeat to Villarreal at the weekend and a laboured Copa del Rey win over lower league Cacareno before that.
Carlo Ancelotti named a relatively strong team for the game, with Karim Benzema flanked up front by Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior. Luka Modric had been left out but came on at half-time.
Rodrygo and Benzema had early chances that they couldn’t take, as did Federico Valverde and Vinicius. But things still looked to be going to plan in the closing stages of the first half when Benzema earned a penalty following a clumsy challenge from Eray Comert.
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner picked himself up to convert for a half-time lead.
But instead of kick on, Real were pegged back. Not even a minute of the second half had elapsed when Samuel Lino connected with Toni Lato’s far-post cross to equalise.
Nacho and Valverde both missed the target with headers in the remainder of normal time, prompting an additional 30 minutes to try and separate the sides.
Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili made excellent saves to deny both Vinicius and Toni Kroos in extra-time, although Los Che had their own chance to seal a dramatic win when Thibaut Courtois made a huge one-on-one save to deny substitute Fran Perez.
When it came to the shootout, Comert compounded a poor night for him by missing the target after Edinson Cavani and Benzema had both scored. Each side then converted two more penalties, before Marco Asensio scored Real’s fourth. Courtois then ended it by saving from Jose Gaya.
GK: Courtois (9); RB: Vazquez (7), CB: Militao (7), CB: Rudiger (7), LB: Nacho (8); CM: Valverde (7), CM: Camavinga (5), CM: Kroos (6); RW: Rodrygo (7), ST: Benzema (7), LW: Vinicius Junior (7)
Subs: Modric (6), Carvajal (6), Mendy (6), Asensio (6), Ceballos (6)
GK: Mamardashvili (8); RB: Correia (7), CB: Comert (5), CB: Ozkacar (7), LB: Gaya (6); RM: Lato (8), CM: Musah (6), CM: Almeida (7), LM: Kluivert (6); ST: Lino (8), ST: Cavani (7)
Subs: Duro (6), Perez (7), Moriba (6), Foulquier (6), Guillamon (N/A)
Player of the match – Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
Credit: 90min.com
