Yahoo Finance Flashy goals from Kroos, Modric help Real Madrid reach Supercopa de España final (video)
The new Supercopa de España format has produced an old familiar finalist.
Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-1 on Wednesday in the first semifinal behind goals from Toni Kroos, Isco and Luka Modric in Saudi Arabia.
Why is the Spanish Super Cup being held in Saudi Arabia? This year’s edition of the largely pointless competition — heretofore contested annually by the previous season’s La Liga and Copa del Rey champions — has ballooned to four teams to include the best finishers to not have won either competition.
That meant that Barcelona (La Liga winner and Copa del Rey runner-up), Valencia (Copa del Rey winner), Atletico Madrid (La Liga runner-up), and Real Madrid (La Liga third place) constitute the field.
Confused? No worries. As ever, soccer is about money first and foremost.
Kroos opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a heads-up Olimpico that caught Valencia keeper Jaume Doménech napping (via ESPN):
TONI KROOS SCORES FROM A CORNER! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/GzYPnYH0H1
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 8, 2020
Isco doubled the lead shortly before halftime, and Luka Modric put the match to bed with a sumptuous outside-foot strike midway through the second half:
Luka Modrić scores with the outside of his foot.
He makes it looks so easy 😍 pic.twitter.com/ir1zHPNbsi— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 8, 2020
Daniel Parejo scored Valencia’s goal on a penalty in stoppage time.
Real Madrid advances to Sunday’s final to play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, who face each other tomorrow.
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