Thursday, January 12, 2023 – 3:00 PM
RIYADH, 12th January, 2020 (WAM) — Despite overcoming Valencia in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup, injuries continued to haunt Real Madrid, the defending champion and the Spanish league champion.
Real Madrid is now threatening to play the Spanish Super Final next Sunday, in the absence of a number of its important elements, after the match against Valencia doubled the number of injuries among the team.
Despite the big difference between the two teams in the Spanish league table and the level with which each appeared in the local league this season, Real Madrid needed extra time and penalty kicks in order to pass Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals at the “King Fahd” International Stadium in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. .
After a 1-1 draw in the original and extra time, Real Madrid won 4-3 on penalties to qualify for the Super Final, in which the winner of the Barcelona and Real Betis match, who meet today in the other confrontation in the Super Cup semi-finals, will meet.
Before playing yesterday’s match, Real Madrid suffered injuries to its players David Alaba and Aurelien Tchoamene.
But yesterday’s match doubled the injury crisis in the team’s ranks, as Edward Camavinga went out injured between halftime, and Eder Militao and Lucas Vazquez were injured, so these injuries became an additional challenge for Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti before the Super Final match.
Away from injuries, Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois gave the team a great deal of reassurance to his colleagues and to coach Ancelotti before the Super Final, where the goalkeeper appeared with a distinguished level against Valencia and played a prominent role in his team’s passage to the semi-finals.
Veteran French striker Karim Benzema also succeeded in scoring the only goal for Real Madrid, equaling an achievement by Argentine Lionel Messi, former Barcelona striker; Where he became the second player in the history of the tournament to score in 5 consecutive matches.
Benzema scored in these matches, with one goal per game, while Messi scored 8 goals in the five matches.
Reda Abdel Nour / Ahmed Zahran