It will be Xavi Hernández’s first classic as a Barça coach in search of his first title at the helm of Barça.
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona on Wednesday in Riyadh face in the semifinals of the Supercopa of Spain in the first classic as Barca coach Xavi Hernandez looking for his first title at the front of the club.
Saudi Super Cup again two years after Real Madrid won on penalties to Atletico at the end of 2020 in Jeddah (east), disputing the 2021 edition in Spain by the pandemic.
The trophy will play its third edition in its new format final four, who will face second-placed team merengue last league match against FC Barcelona, champions of the King’s Cup in the first semifinal.
On Thursday, Atlético de Madrid, current league champion, will face Athletic de Bilbao, finalist in the last Copa del Rey and winner of the 2021 Super Cup.
The two matches will be played at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, which will also host the final of the trophy next Sunday.
The 30,000 tickets have already been sold (slightly less than half the capacity of the stadium due to the pandemic) put on sale for Wednesday’s classic, the first official one played outside of Spain.
The merengue team, current leader of the Spanish championship, seems to arrive in a better position than its Barça rival, sixth in the championship in Spain, 17 points behind Real Madrid.
TV channels to watch live
Sky HD for Mexico
DirecTV for Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
GUIGO, Star +, Claro, ESPN and Claro for Brazil.
Schedules to see live
11:00 from Tijuana and Los Angeles
1:00 PM from Mexico City, Chicago
14:00 from Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and New York
15:00 from Venezuela and Bolivia
16:00 from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil
19:00 from England and Portugal
20:00 from Spain, France, Italy and Germany
Cautious meringue
“In theory we could be favorites, but there is theory and practice,” warned, however, the Italian coach on Saturday after beating Valencia 4-1 in LaLiga.
“Barça will always be a rival for Real Madrid, they are not called classic for nothing,” added Ancelotti, who will return to bet on Wednesday the Frenchman Karim Benzema and the Brazilian Vinicius as his attacking partner.
Benzema, leading scorers league table with 19 points, followed by ‘Vini’ 12, while the highest scorer is barcelonista Memphis Depay with 8 points.
“It is an important competition, the first of the season and everyone wants to win it, and so do we,” warned Ancelotti.
Faced with the experience in classics of the veteran Italian coach, his Barcelona counterpart Xavi Hernández will debut in a one as a coach, after many disputed as a player.
Excentrocampista Barca said on Friday he hoped to “a blow on the table in the Super Cup,” but the draw at Granada on Saturday at the last minute has fallen like a bucket of cold water.
‘Change the chip’
“You have to change the chip,” warned Xavi, who once again emphasized the mistakes of his team, arguing the youth of his team and asking for patience.
In addition to being able to count on Pedri and Ferran Torres, having overcome the coronavirus in extremis, Xavi has included in the trip the Uruguayan center-back Ronald Araujo, the Dutch Frenkie de Jong and the young Ansu Fati, despite not having the medical discharge of their respective injuries .
A win against Real Madrid would be a boost and pass to the final of Supercopa, whose transfer to Saudi Arabia, an ultra-conservative kingdom widely criticized by human rights activists, continues to divide opinions.
“That he goes to another country to play has the sense that we all know it has. It makes no sense to go there to play a game that had to be played here, ”Athletic Bilbao player Raúl García said on Monday, pointing to economic interests.
The Spanish Federation (RFEF) signed a contract to play the Super Cup in Arabia for three years for 120 million euros (136 million dollars).
At the same time, Amnesty International asked the participating teams on Monday for “a gesture in favor of women’s rights” in the Arab country.
The controversy over the rights of Saudi women (who were authorized to access the Super Cup matches in 2019) had peppered the first edition of the Supercopa in the Arab country. (D)
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