Real Madrid Beat Atletico In Eight-Goal Supercopa Epic In Saudi Arabia
Real Madrid beat city rivals Atletico Madrid 5-3 in an epic Supercopa de Espana semi-final in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Atletico led 1-0 and 3-2 before ultimately losing in extra time.
Real will now face either Barcelona or Osasuna in the final on Sunday.
Real Madrid's players pictured celebrating after beating Atletico Madrid 5-3 in the semi-finals of the 2023/24 Supercopa de Espana
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Mario Hermoso headed home from an Antoine Griezmann corner to give Atletico the lead after just six minutes.
Real then equalized from a corner at the other end when Antonio Rudiger got on the end of a Luka Modric cross in the 20th minute.
The La Liga leaders went ahead eight minutes later courtesy of a brilliant first-time finish by Ferland Mendy.
But the game was level before half-time thanks to a superb solo goal from Griezmann that saw the 32-year-old become Atletico's all-time leading scorer.
A goalkeeping blunder by Kepa Arrizabalaga saw Atletico go 3-2 up in the 78th minute. Under pressure from Alvaro Morata, Kepa pushed the ball onto the thigh of Rudiger, who deflected it into the net for an own goal.
But Atletico were unable to hold on as Real forced extra time after Dani Carvajal scored in a Madrid derby for the first time in his career.
After a thrilling 90 minutes of end-to-end football, extra time was much less entertaining until Real scored twice in the final five minutes.
A Stefan Savic own goal put Real in front when the Atletico defender deflected an off-target Joselu header past Jan Oblak.
With Atletico desperate for an equalizer, keeper Oblak decided to play as an attacker for the final moments. This bold decision enabled Brahim Diaz to shoot into an empty net with the last kick of the game following an impressive display of pace.
