JEDDAH: 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 thunderous free-kick and a Rodrygo Goes strike helped Madrid secure a fifth straight victory in all competitions, with Alexander Sorloth pulling one back for Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who fell short in Jeddah.
Alonso was close to the sack after inconsistent form towards the end of 2025, but his side have slowly found their feet in the form of positive results, even if some performances have not been entirely convincing.
The Spanish coach led Madrid to a victory over Barcelona in his first Clasico at the helm in October, before his team began to fall apart.
“After so many games without scoring, today was a great game to get back into it, to help the team win,” Valverde told Movistar after scoring his first goal of the campaign.
“We also have to continue to be self-critical, we had chances but they had more and played much better than us, we have to continue to correct that and improve.”
Alonso disagreed with Valverde’s analysis.
“It’s a semi-final, scoring early gives you that advantage you want to defend,” the coach said. “There were phases where we were defending but the goal was to get to the final, and we are happy to play that on Sunday.”
With French superstar Kylian Mbappe missing as he recovers from a knee sprain, Alonso kept young striker Gonzalo Garcia at the center of the attack following 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 it was a much closer affair.
Los Blancos took the lead after just two minutes when Valverde’s fierce free-kick flew past Sorloth into a misplaced wall and past Jan Oblak.
Atletico’s Norwegian striker could have done more to block it and Oblak got his hands on the shot but couldn’t keep it out due to his power.
Valverde celebrated vehemently, hitting his head, visibly delighted to have broken his duck in a difficult season so far.
By taking the lead, Real Madrid have earned the right to sit deeper and force Atletico to try and attack them to get back level.
Madrid hit the Rojiblancos when they could on the counter, with Oblak saving well from Rodrygo after floating inside from the right.
Atletico began to create chances and could have equalized before the break.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois deflected Sorloth’s header, then the target man awkwardly nodded Conor Gallagher’s cross off target from close range.
Rodrygo extended Madrid’s lead in the 55th minute with his third goal in five games, continuing his rich form in recent weeks following a run where he failed to score in 32 consecutive games.
The Brazilian found space to carve out in the middle of Atletico’s defense 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 a Giuliano Simeone cross.
The striker gave defender Raul Asencio just enough push to push him away without being penalized before acquiescing.
“Valverde scored a superb goal, it was an extraordinary free kick,” said Atletico coach Simeone. “Despite the fact that my team played very well, but we had to win and we didn’t, they had the quality to be able to finish (his chances).”
The Atletico coach pushed Madrid winger Vinicius Junior on as his replacement, with the Brazilian failing to score for a 16th consecutive match.
“I didn’t like it, I saw (Simeone) say something to Vinicius, and for me it goes against the respect we should have for the opponents… we can’t do whatever (we want),” Alonso said.
Madrid will face Barcelona in the final on Sunday at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium after the Catalans beat Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on Wednesday.
Published in Dawn, January 10, 2026
