They beat rivals Atletico Madrid 2-1 in Saudi Arabia
\n RIYADH
\nXabi Alonso\u2019s 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.
\nFede Valverde\u2019s 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\u2019s Atletico, who came up short in Jeddah.
\nAlonso 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.
\nThe Spanish coach led Madrid to a win over Barcelona in his first Clasico at the helm in October, before his team began to slump.
\nWith 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.
\nAtletico beat their city rivals 5-2 when the teams met in September in a La Liga derby but this was a far closer affair.
\nLos Blancos took the lead after just two minutes when Valverde\u2019s ferocious free-kick flew past Sorloth in a poorly-positioned wall and rocketed past Jan Oblak.
\nThe 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.
\nValverde celebrated vehemently, slapping his own head, clearly delighted at breaking his duck in a difficult season to date.
\nBy taking the lead, Real Madrid earned the right to sit deeper and force Atletico to try and attack them to pull back level.
\nMadrid hit the Rojiblancos when they could on the counter, with Oblak saving well from Rodrygo after he floated inside from the right.
\nAtletico began to create some chances and could have pulled level before the interval.
\nMadrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois tipped away Sorloth\u2019s header, and then the target man clumsily nodded Conor Gallagher\u2019s cross off-target from close range.
\nRodrygo extended Madrid\u2019s 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.
\nThe Brazilian found a gap to burst through in the middle of Atletico\u2019s defence and kept his cool to sweep the ball past Oblak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They beat rivals Atletico Madrid 2-1 in Saudi Arabia RIYADH Xabi Alonso\u2019s 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\u2019s blistering free-kick and a Rodrygo Goes strike helped Madrid claim a fifth consecutive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n