RIYADH: An own goal by defender Stefan Savic and a strike by Brahim Diaz late in extra time gave Real Madrid a 5-3 comeback win over city rivals Atletico in a rip-roaring Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Riyadh on Wednesday.

The rivalry, the comeback and the stakes combined to make this arguably the best match of the Spanish season, with two fearless sides battling for 120 minutes in a breathtaking derby.

“It was spectacular, but we don’t enjoy matches like this,” Real manager Carlo Ancelotti told Movistar Plus. “The wear and tear has been tremendous. Because we are two very strong teams who have given everything. We won because we had more energy in the final stages ... [the substitutes] all delivered.”

Mario Hermoso and Antonio Rudiger exchanged early headed goals before Ferland Mendy sent Madrid ahead at the Al-Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh.

Antoine Griezmann levelled with a milestone goal for Atletico to become their all-time leading scorer and Kepa Arrizabalaga’s own goal sent the Rojilbancos ahead, but Dani Carvajal smashed Real level and forced extra-time.

With the game heading towards penalties, Savic’s own goal under pressure from Joselu nudged Real ahead and substitute Diaz wrapped up the win on the counter-attack with Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak stranded out of position.

In Sunday’s final Real will face either Barcelona or Osasuna.

Atletico, the only team to beat Real this season, face Real three times in under a month, with their next clash quickly arriving in the Copa del Rey next Thursday.

“We have a [chance for] revenge and we need our fans behind us in our stadium,” Atletico’s Koke told Movistar.

However Atletico manager Diego Simeone disagreed with the midfielder.

“It’s not revenge, in football there is no revenge,” said Simeone. “It’s a new knock-out game that will be different to today. I told my players that I’m really proud of them, they played a great game and we were very close, but it was an unfortunate outcome...”

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2024