The renewal of perennial rivalry promises untold excitement as the final of the Supercopa de Espana takes place on Sunday, with arch rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona set to go head to head in Saudi Arabia for the first piece of silverware of the season in Spanish football.
The match will be played in an exotic setting: the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.
The two finalists progressed to Sunday’s final in similar fashion.
Real Madrid went ahead in the semi final encounter against Valencia, only to equalized in regular time. The tie was eventually settled by a penalty shoot-out from which Los Blancos held their nerve to reach the final.
Barcelona also took the lead against Real Betis in their semi on Thursday, but the Andalusians not only equalised in regular time, but also in extra-time after Ansu Fati put the Catalans ahead.
On penalties, however, the Blaugrana had Marc Andre ter Stegen to thank for two big saves that would eventually see Xavi’s side through.
For the finals line-ups,
Carlo Ancelotti has a couple of headches for the final. Eder Militao suffered a concussion during their semi final and is not fit for the game.
Lucas Vazquez will also miss the game due to an injury.
Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba are ruled out too, while Alvaro Odriozola and Eduardo Camavinga are doubts.
For Xavi, there are no injury concerns but he could be tempted into making a few changes with some of his players underperforming against Betis.
Ousmane Dembele was taken off just after the hour mark on Thursday, but that was just as a precaution.
Real Madrid predicted XI (4-3-3): Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy; Kroos, Valverde, Modric; Asensio, Vinicius, Benzema
Barcelona predicted XI (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Alba; De Jong, Gavi, Pedri; Dembele, Fati, Lewandowski.
