Valencia – Real Madrid: Easy Win Sends Real Madrid To Super Cup Final (1-3)

Real started the game in dominant fashion and went ahead through a directly scored corner kick from Toni Kroos. Apart from a ten-minute period in the middle of the first half, Valencia barely set a foot into the opposing half. This tempted manager Albert Celades to switch the formation, which resulted in a more open, end-to-end game, albeit a game that Madrid still easily won.

Tactical analysis and match report by Jonas G.

The Spanish FA made the decision to hold the least interesting cup competition – the national Super Cup – in Saudi-Arabia this year and turn it into a four-team tournament played with two semi-finals and one final. After LaLiga restarted last weekend after a two-week break, the schedule is again interrupted for another two weeks.

In the first semi-final played in Jeddah, Valencia faced Real Madrid. The league game, not even a month ago, finished with a 1-1 draw in Valencia. After a rough start to the season, Celades’ team is now unbeaten for a stretch of seven games, climbing up into sixth position in the league within reach of the Champions League places. A 4-4-2 formation was used in the last games and it came as a surprise to see the three central midfielders – Geoffrey Kondogbia, Dani Parejo and Francis Coquelin – on the team sheet. Celades also switched from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-1-4-1 shape. 

On the other side, Real’s lineup was surprising as . . .