Tuesday, January 10, 2023 – 2:14 PM
RIYADH, 10th January / WAM / For the second edition in a row and the third in general, the activities of the Spanish Super Cup football tournament will start tomorrow (Wednesday) at the stadiums of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the “King Fahd” International Stadium in the capital, Riyadh, will host the activities of the new version of the tournament in the coming days. .
Real Madrid, holders of the Spanish League title and runner-up Barcelona, and Real Betis, holders of the King’s Cup and runner-up Valencia, will participate in the tournament.
Saudi stadiums hosted the tournament in the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 editions, and Real Madrid won the title in both editions.
Of course, Real Madrid is looking forward to repeating this in the new edition, which starts tomorrow, with its match against Valencia in the semi-finals, but this time it will face strong competition from the rest of the tournament participants, especially Barcelona, who will meet Real Betis on Thursday in the second semi-final match.
Barcelona, in turn, is looking forward to regaining the title – which it missed in the last 3 copies – knowing that the team holds the record for the number of times winning the title with 13 titles, one title ahead of Real Madrid, while Valencia won the championship title once in 1999 and flirts with the dream of the first title, Betis. .
Real Madrid is going through the Super Cup competitions in a difficult atmosphere, as the team lost its match against Villarreal in the Spanish League, to retreat from competing with Barcelona at the top of the competition table, which is unique in the lead by 3 points.
Real Madrid suffers from injuries to its players Aurelien Tchoamini and David Alaba, while Barcelona can benefit from its Polish striker Robert Lewandowski in the championship matches, given that the 3-match ban imposed on the veteran star does not apply to the Super Cup matches.
Valencia, for its part, is running the championship activities after two consecutive defeats in the Spanish League, which frozen its balance at 19 points, in 11th place in the competition table.
On the other hand, Betis restored the tone of victories in the Spanish League before heading to Riyadh after defeating Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish League to occupy fourth place in the competition table, which gives him a good moral boost before facing Barcelona, while the Real Madrid match with Valencia tomorrow will be an opportunity for both teams to heal The wounds of defeat in the local league.
And after the activities of the Super Cup in the past were limited to one decisive confrontation between the champions of the League and the King’s Cup of Spain, the agreement and contract concluded to hold the tournament in Saudi stadiums since the 2019-2020 season came to change the tournament system to be held in two rounds (semi-finals and finals) with the participation of the league and cup champions and their runners-up. .
The championship competitions come this time after the uproar that accompanied the recent transfer of Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo to the Saudi Al-Nasr team, who was one of the most prominent stars of Real Madrid and the Spanish League years ago.
Asim Al-Khouli / Ahmed Zahran