In the early morning of January 13, Beijing time, the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and the event held in a different place brought a lot of income to the two giant teams, it is understood that Real Madrid and Barcelona can get 6.25 million euros in appearance fees, such income is very important for Barca in a financially constrained situation.
Although the King Fahd Stadium is only half open, the 30,000 tickets were snatched up in an hour, which is enough to see the local fans' love for both teams and the attention to the Spanish national derby.
Barca ended the extreme slump at the start of the season and have stabilized somewhat recently. In the last 6 matches, under the leadership of Xavi, Barca have won 3 and drawn 3. Their opponents, Real Madrid, have won 8, drawn 1 and lost 1 of their last 10 matches, ranking first in the league and 17 points ahead of Sixth Place Barca.
The two teams have met in the last four meetings, and Barca have lost all of them. In terms of player value, the total value of real Madrid is 746 million, and Barca is 659 million.
According to Spain's six, the intersection of the two teams is far more than that, and Isco, who has fallen out of the rotation at Real Madrid this season, has reached a basic agreement with Barca.
After the opening, the two teams fought fiercely, and there were often cases of people turning over on their backs.
Barca, who were in a relatively passive position, had to block Real Madrid's attack through consecutive fouls.
Harvey also kept shouting on the sidelines, looking a little anxious.
Ancelotti, on the other hand, sat firmly on the Diaoyutai and was quite calm.
Real Madrid's attack was more threatening, as Asensio's two shots went high, and he hid his face as he missed the opportunity.
In the 24th minute, the balance of power on the pitch was broken, Busquets hesitated, the ball was directly cut off by Benzema, Real Madrid's counter-attack tore through Barca's defense, vinicius ate Araujo raw, rewriting the score to 1-0.
It is difficult for the backward Barca to organize a particularly effective attack, and the shots are mostly scratched by the boots, but the real Madrid counterattack is very popular.
In the 41st minute, Barca unexpectedly equalized.
Dembele, who had been quite active in the first half, crossed from the side, and Militang relaxed a bit, hitting De Jong's foot directly, and the ball bounced off the goalpost and into the net.
Courtois looked helpless as the Barca players embraced and celebrated.
At the end of the half, the two teams made it 1-1.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Alves received a yellow card for shoveling Vinicius.
Dembele's cold shot also forced Courtois to fall to the ground to save.
In the 71st minute, Real Madrid took the lead again.
Mendy's flank broke through easily to shake off Barca's defence and Benzema's first shot was blocked. Carvajal crossed again and Kardesh Benzema scored with ease to give Real Madrid a 2-1 lead.
The camera is given to Harvey, only to see him pinching his nose, bowing his head and walking violently, quite helpless.
In the 83rd minute, barca, almost desperate, equalised when substitute Fati received a cross from Alba and the header broke the goal.
Fati scored immediately after his comeback and the Barca team celebrated wildly.
The two teams were 2-2 in regular time and had to decide between the two teams in extra time.
In the 8th minute of extra time, and also the 98th minute of the whole game, Real Madrid seized the opportunity, counter-attacking 4 to 2, through continuous passes, Barca's defense lost one or the other, Vinicius's light leak, substitute Valverde scored.
In the end, through extra time, Real Madrid, which won the Spanish Super Cup 10 times, defeated Barca 3-2 and ushered in a five-game winning streak in the national derby. Real Madrid advance to the Final of the Super Cup and their opponents will be the winners between Atletico and Bilbao.