Real Madrid defeat Atletico to reach Spanish Super Cup final

Real Madrid have secured their spot in the 2025 Spanish Super Cup final after defeating City rivals Atletico 2-1 on Thursday night.

Federico Valverde scored a stunning early free-kick before Rodrygo doubled their lead in the 55th minute. Alexander Sorloth pulled a goal back for Atletico, but it was the 13-time Super Cup winners who prevailed to reach Sunday’s final.

Thursday’s semi-final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was only 77 seconds old when Los Blancos captain Valverde sent a 30-yard free-kick fizzing past Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak into the top corner.

Rodrygo doubled Real’s lead 10 minutes into the second half with a cute finish past Oblak, though his excellent first touch to control a Valverde pass before accelerating away from defender Robin Le Normand was the highlight.

Rodrygo celebrates scoring his Real Madrid’s second goal during the Spanish Super Cup Semi-Final match against Atletico Madrid. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

Sorloth rose above Raul Asencio at the back post to head home and halve the deficit with more than half an hour still to play, but that was the only one of Atletico’s 22 attempts to be converted.

The Norwegian striker somehow headed wide late in the first half when Conor Gallagher found him with an inch-perfect delivery, before Julian Alvarez – goalless in his last eight La Liga outings – snatched a shot wide deep into second-half injury-time.

Real Madrid held on to secure victory and also set up a Clasico meeting with Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final.

Hansi Flick’s side reached the final by thrashing Athletic Club 5-0 in the first semi-final on Wednesday.

The Spanish Super Cup is taking place in Jeddah after Saudi Arabia and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) extended a deal to play the tournament in the country until 2029.