by Episodes II and III must be very, very special if the Madrid Trilogy is to end as well as it began. Not content to face each other three times in three competitions and three weeks, Atlético and Real decided to play another half hour just for the fun of it, scoring three goals each for the sixth game Consecutive derby wins into extra time. A great game then ended when Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak found himself up with one last throw of the dice 4-3, himself chasing hard when Brahim Díaz broke clear and curled the ball into empty net. in the 121st minute to send his teammates onto the field and into the Spanish Super Cup final.
It was a fitting end to a frenetic event: a game full of entertainment and eight goals, two of them outstanding and two of them extremely silly. The usual suspects didn’t exactly score most. Antoine Griezmann got the better of Luis Aragonés as Atlético’s all-time top goalscorer, sure, but few predicted strikes from Mario Hermoso, Toni Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal, all defenders . Or own goals from Kepa Arrizabalaga and Stefan Savic, the latter giving Real an extra-time lead they would take. Directly.
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Ultimately the first meeting between these two sides, who will face each other in the Copa del Rey next week and in the league at the beginning of February, was 30 shots and they went from 1-0 against Atlético to 2- 1 against Real, from 3-2 Atlético to 5-3 Real. It wasn’t definitively over until the end, when Díaz, as a caption, was standing there with his top out and everyone trying to work out what happened. The answer was a little bit of everything, except protection.
By the end everyone was exhausted but for much of the game the technique was exceptional, if the feeling that both sides wanted to enjoy this more than the next goal in Spain facilitated.
It was visible from the start, and especially in the transition that led to the opening goal: taken deep in one half and finished in the other, he went from Koke to the exceptional Rodrigo de Paul to Griezmann and then Samuel Lino, whose Kepa pushed wide. From the corner taken by Griezmann, Hermoso stood alone and gave Atlético the lead. When Real brought Atlético in soon after, they did it again, this time going from their own left corner to Real’s hand post, where Marcos Llorente’s ball found Álvaro Morata and his shot hit the sideline.
Real struggled to get a hold of those early stages, but Atlético knew all about their refusal to fold and soon took the lead. Jude Bellingham sent a chipped shot wide and, from the corner, Rüdiger was to head home a replica to minutes from the European Cup final in Lisbon, ten years ago now but ever present. The receiver was even the same man: Luka Modric.
It was Rüdiger’s second goal in a row and Real’s third goal in a row, coming from a corner header, but that run was short-lived. If that was routine, this certainly wasn’t: a smart move ended with a fine flick of Mendy’s ankle to put his side ahead. “That’s how Madrid wins,” said the crowd in Riyadh, where Real are very much the home team, 5,000km away. It’s not, however, what you’d expect most from the French defender.
It was a fine goal, worth what was happening – what the game lacked in terms of tension – and what followed was even better. Griezmann sent Aurélien Tchouaméni, Rüdiger and especially Modric the wrong way with an extraordinary turn that made a magical space appear that did not exist a second before. Going in, he fired his right foot past Kepa from the edge of the area, recovering the ball from the net and passing it to Diego Simeone to keep it safe. After all, this was the ball in which he had scored his 164th goal for Atlético – more, now, than anyone else – and leveled the semi-final.
Another moment of fantasy came soon after when Rodrygo left José María Giménez on the floor, changing weights as quickly and feet as quickly as the French. Oblak was also falling the other way but somehow saved with his legs, gratefully catching the ball as it looked like it might turn over the line. It was the 14th shot of a very enjoyable first half, nine of which were on target, and when the second started, Lino hit another beyond the post. Then, when a quick-taken Vinícius free-kick unleashed, Carvajal probably should have scored at the other end only for Oblak to block his close-range volley.
By then, the volume had grown: Toni Kroos, who said Saudi Arabia’s human rights record was the reason he would never move to the country, was booed every time he got the ball.
The drama would also rise, even if the game was delayed. Atlético took the lead again 12 minutes from the end with a goal that was strange and funny. Kepa leapt over Morata to try and hit a cross but he only succeeded in deflecting it down onto Rüdiger’s leg and back into his net. The goalkeeper complained that it was dirty but the response was that of an embarrassed man hitting straws – and he didn’t manage to keep them either.
He was, however, rescued. With six minutes left, Vinícius zoomed up the left and ran into the area. Oblak saved his first shot, Savic blocked Bellingham’s follow-up, Hermoso cleared Bellingham’s second off the line but when he went in, Carvajal lost the ball to make it 3-3. Brahim almost got the winner on 91 minutes, going past Hermoso with a superb finish, but his shot went wide, sending another Derby into extra time, where a dummy from Ángel Correa produced a similar moment for Atlético.
Atlético now looked exhausted and it was just a matter of trying, and failing, to hang on. The way it happened was cruel and a little daft, Savic’s interception bouncing over his own goalkeeper and into the net with four minutes to go and penalties on the way. Then Griezmann nodded just past the post. As the final minute ticked up and Atlético chased Oblak. He was forced to go back and chase him, he watched as Brahim Díaz got up and their last chance.
