Atletico de Madrid has finally done it. They have finally gotten the better of Los Blancos in the finals of a major competition. After going down to their cross-town rivals twice in the finals of the Champions League (2014 and 2016), they finally had their revenge as they stopped the reigning European champions from winning their 3rd consecutive UEFA Super Cup.
Atletico took the lead in the first minute of the match. Diego Costa set a new record of the fastest goal scored in a Super Cup tie. Real Madrid had greater possession and created more chances just to put them wide, again and again. KarimBenzemaequalised from a cross-field ball off Gareth Bale’s foot in the 27th minute of the game. The momentum of the game seemed to be shifting in Real’s favour as they started dominating the game a little more. Their effort did not go unrewarded as they won a penalty in the 67th minute of the match following a Juanfran-handball inside the box. Captain Ramos converted it with absolute ease to give Real the lead. Both the teams pushed on, one trying to kill off the tie as the other tried desperately to get back in the game. A resolute piece of play from Juanfran to find Correa finally got Atleti their equaliser. Correa did brilliantly to find Costa who tucked it home and made it look like a routine strike. A 79th minute equaliser meant that the game was probably heading towards extratime.
In extra time, Atletico saw a number of goal scoring chances come their way. However, it took a stunner-of-a-volley from Saul to break the deadlock. Atleti followed it up with another goal 5 minutes later in the first half of the extra time to pretty much inscribe their name on the piece of silverware. Koke added the last one to join the list of goal scorers.
