Real Madrid-Atlético: Whites looking to seal place in Spanish Super Cup final

This evening Real Madrid will begin their quest for the first trophy of the year. The Whites are in action in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup against Atlético at the Al-Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh (8pm CET). The Madrid derby will determine the first finalists of the competition, with Barcelona and Osasuna battling it out tomorrow.

This will be the first of three clashes between Real Madrid and Atlético in less than a month. Just eight days later, it will be followed by the Copa del Rey round of 16 clash, which will be played as a single match at the Cívitas Metropolitano, and the second round match in LaLiga, which will take place on the first weekend of February at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Fifth edition of competition format
Madrid are taking part in the Spanish Super Cup, which is being held for the fifth consecutive year in a final four format, as champions of the Copa del Rey. The madridistas have won the trophy on twelve occasions. Atlético, who have two titles to their name, go into this competition having finished third in the previous league campaign.

“The Super Cup is an important competition and we want to do everything we can to win it,” said Ancelotti in the press conference ahead of the Madrid derby. In his squad, the Italian coach is without the injured Alaba, Militão, Courtois and Lucas Vázquez, but he will have Valverde, who also spoke ahead of the match in the press room: “The best thing about Madrid is that you compete against the best and Atlético are at a world class level.”

The opposition
Ancelotti's boys, who are on a run of five wins and have now gone 19 games without defeat (16 wins), come up against a side who go into the game having eliminated Lugo in the Copa del Rey (1-3). At home they are undefeated and have won 12 of their 13 matches, while on the road they have notched up five victories. Morata and Griezmann are the team's top scorers, with 17 and 16 goals respectively.