Both Real Madrid and Barcelona overcame their opponents Valencia CF and Real Betis respectively to set up a dream final in the Supercopa de España (Also known as the Spanish Super Cup) at the King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Coincidentally, the venue of the final is where former Real Madrid star man and their all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo (451 goals in 438 matches) current resides after his sensational move away from Europe to Al-Nassr, a club in the oil-rich Middle-East State Saudi Arabia.
The match between the two Spanish club giants this Sunday, also called the El Clásico is one of heavyweight football matches over the buzzing weekend for sports, with others being the Manchester derby between Manchester United and their noisy neighbour Manchester City as well as the north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Second Meeting of the Season Between Los Blancos and Catalan Giants This Season
Sunday’s meeting between the two would be the 186th El Clásico, with Real Madrid currently leading the head-to-head record with 77 wins while Barcelona is only four wins away from equalling Los Blancos’ record in the total match-ups, and had scored similar amount of goals like the team in All-White (296 vs 298). The recent five encounters in the clash between two Spanish football powerhouses had been in the favour of Real Madrid’s as Carlo Ancelotti’s men had won four of those fixtures, including the last one at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the Spanish La Liga that saw Karima Benzema, Federico Valverde and Rodrygo score for the home side. Both teams will also meet again later this season in the return league fixture at Camp Nou, Barcelona’s home stadium, but before that fixture can take place, let us look at their runs to the Supercopa de España final.
Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s Journey So Far
As many have already known, the 2022/2023 Spanish Super Cup feature the winners as well as runners-up of the 2021/2022 Copa del Rey and La Liga, in which this edition’s participants included Real Madrid (La Liga champion), Barcelona (La Liga second place), Real Betis (Copa del Rey winner) and Valencia (Copa del Rey runner-up). The two giants in Spanish football were separated into two opposing halves, where Ancelotti’s Real Madrid overcame Gennaro Gattuso’s Valencia while Xavi’s Barcelona beat Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis.
Interestingly, both games were played till the final stretch of penalty shoot-out at the King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh to decide the winner as the normal 90 minutes and extra-time periods were not able to separate the teams. Los Blancos won their spot kick battle after their opponents missed two of their five attempts whereas Betis also missed two of theirs for the Catalan Giants to emerge victorious in the clash.
Barcelona had been the most successful team in the history of this competition, with 13 titles and 11 runners-up under its belt while Real Madrid fared slightly worse than their arch-nemesis, registering 12 triumphs so far. A win for either one of these sides will allow the former to be two titles clear of Los Blancos while Real’s victory would make them level with Catalan Giants for the total number of Supercopa de España won. Both teams are set to battle it out for their lives to sink their rival on the way for the first trophy available in the New Year of 2023, but who will come out on top this time around? We want to know your say down the comment section.
Did you know Barcelona won a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Atlético Madrid to stay top of the La Liga table?
First Clásico of the year with a trophy on the line 🏆 pic.twitter.com/3RfrjU2yX5
— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 12, 2023
