Real Madrid beat cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid in the Saudi-hosted Spanish Super Cup to challenge Barcelona.
Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia to set up a Clasico final against rivals Barcelona.
Fede Valverde’s free-kick and Rodrigo’s strike on Thursday helped Madrid claim a fifth straight win in all competitions, with Alexander Sorloth pulling one back for Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who came up short in Jeddah.
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Alonso was close to the sack after a run of inconsistent form towards the end of 2025, but his team have slowly found their feet.
The Spanish coach led Madrid to victory over Barcelona in his first Clásico in October before his team’s decline began.
With French superstar Kylian Mbappe out after recovering from a knee injury, Alonso placed young striker Gonzalo Garcia in the center of attack after his hat-trick against Real Betis on Sunday.
Atlético beat their city rivals 5-2 when the teams met in a La Liga derby in September, but it was a very close affair.
Los Blancos took the lead after just two minutes when Valverde’s fierce free-kick went past Sorloth into the wall in a poor position and rocketed past Jon Oblak.
The Norwegian Atlético forward would have done more to stop him and Oblak got a hand to the shot but was unable to block due to sheer force.
Valverde celebrated wildly, slapping himself on the head, clearly delighted to score his first goal of what has been a difficult season to date.
Taking the lead, Real Madrid earned the right to sit deep and force Atlético to try to pull back level.
Madrid hit the Rojiblancos when they could on the counter, Oblak saving well after Rodrigo floated inside from the right.
Atlético started to create some chances and could have equalized before the break.
Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved Sorloth’s header and then the target man nodded Conor Gallagher’s cross off-target from close range.
Julian Alvarez, who has scored just two goals in his last 11 games, fired a shot towards goal but was also blocked by Courtois.
Rodrigo extended Madrid’s lead in the 55th minute with his third goal in five games, continuing a rich vein of form over the past few weeks.
The Brazilian found a gap in the middle of Atletico’s defense and kept his cool to sweep the ball past Oblak.
Sorloth finally kills
Three minutes later, Atlético made a comeback, with Sorloth finally scoring with a header from Giuliano Simeone’s cross.
The striker gave defender Raul Asensio enough of a push to keep him away without being penalized before nodding off.
Atletico came close in the closing stages as they tried in vain to force extra-time, Courtois saving an acrobatic Antoine Griezmann effort and Marcos Llorente firing agonizingly wide.
Alvarez fired a shot across the face of goal in stoppage time as Atletico’s hopes of silverware in Saudi Arabia ended early.
Madrid will face Barcelona in the final at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium on Wednesday, after the Catalans thrashed Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on Wednesday.