Anwar Ibrahim (Cairo)
Football fans all over the world are eagerly awaiting the decisive confrontation on Sunday, between the poles of Spanish football, Real Madrid and Barcelona, in the Super Cup final, which will be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
“Barca” defeated “Real Madrid” 3-1, in the final of last season, and won the title, and “Merengue” seeks to restore its reputation this time, and avenge its defeat.
On this occasion, Florentino Perez, president of the Royal Club, promised his players huge rewards in the event of victory and lifting the cup.
The newspaper “Sport” reported that Perez motivates his players with this large reward, as he allocated 4 million euros to give them, in the event of victory, which is half the amount that the club received from the Spanish Football Federation in exchange for participating in the tournament.
The circumstances this year are different from what was the case in last year’s final, as “Real Madrid” is undergoing a state of recovery in terms of results and in the league standings, “La Liga”, where it comes in the lead, and it also defeated Barcelona in the last two confrontations between them, and also succeeded. In eliminating its arch-neighbor, Atletico Madrid, from the semi-finals of the tournament, after beating it 5-3.
On the other hand, Barcelona was able to regain its balance, after the poor results in “La Liga”, which pushed it to third place, and compensated for that by winning the “Super” semi-final over Osasuna 2-0, after providing a good performance.
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez is very optimistic about the possibility of winning the tournament, and he said in his statements to reporters: We were the best in the “La Liga” match, and we controlled most of its periods despite the 1-2 loss.
He added: I compare this final to last year’s match in the same tournament when we won 3-1 and won the cup, and we can do it again.
While some Spanish press reports said that Real Madrid had a better chance, because it performed better throughout the season, in addition to having more rest than Barcelona before the match, other press sources said that the “marathon” semi-final that Real Madrid played was… 4 games against Atletico Madrid is enough to have a negative impact on the physical condition of the players.
It is noteworthy that Real Madrid’s upcoming match schedule after the final is full of fiery confrontations, as it plays twice in a row against Atletico Madrid, the first in the round of 16 of the King’s Cup, and the second in “La Liga” before the end of this month.
2024-01-13 04:34:53
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