UEFA Super Cup: no surprises, experience wins!

The UEFA Super Cup is a one-match competition for a valuable trophy. But the road to this match is very thorny. Or rather, there are two roads. The first one is the hardest possible, and it goes all the way through the Champions League. Real Madrid took that route and, having lifted the famous eared trophy above their heads in the last LM final, they have secured their ticket to this duel. The other route is winning the Europa League, which Eintracht Frankfurt did.

This match had a clear favourite from the start. The royal club from Madrid has a wealth of experience in similar matches and this was also evident on the pitch from the opening whistle. Real have won the Champions League title 14 times, the Europa League 4 times and have also just dominated the UEFA Super Cup 4 times. The club from Germany has a much more modest collection. Apart from the current Europa League title, it has one from 1980.

Real Madrid were led into the match by Carlo Ancelotti, of course, and sent his charges into battle with the following line-up: Courtois – Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy – Modric, Casemiro, Kroos – Valverde, Benzema (C), Vinícius Júnior.

Eintracht Frankfurt under the direction of Oliver Glasner had the following line-up: Trapp – Touré, Tuta, Ndicka – Knauff, Sow, Rode (C), Lenz – Kamada, Borré, Lindström.

Match flow

In the first minutes of the match Real Madrid had the ball. But nothing crucial happened. The first shot was not scored until the 11th minute. It did not count in the statistics because it was preceded by an offside.

About 3 minutes later, Frankfurt’s chance was well within the rules. However, a very promising attempt by Kamada was defused by the timely Courtois.

After that, the home team also got the chance. After a quick combination, Vinicius Jr. was able to finish inside the penalty area and beat the goalkeeper, but the stopper Tuta intervened brilliantly just in front of the goal line. The score was 1-1 on goal chances in the 18th minute.

In the 37th minute, Vinicius Jr. got free on the corner of the big penalty area and his shot to the back post had to be saved by the ‘visitors’ goalkeeper. The shot was deflected for a corner and it was from the corner kick that the first goal was scored. Frankfurt took an incomprehensibly lax approach to defending the standard situation and this approach was punished by David Alaba.

Real smelled blood and bit into their opponent. In the 42nd minute, Benzema was on the edge of the penalty area and his shot just missed the bar of the opponent’s goal. He also won a couple of direct kicks, but no chances came from them. The first half was delayed by one minute.

A cautious and tactical opening gradually turned into an open game. In terms of statistics, Real Madrid dominated the first half. They had 63% possession of the ball, outplayed their opponents and, above all, scored a goal. But Frankfurt also had their chances, and especially the first one, which Kamada had, was definitely a goal.

The second half started as the first ended. The White Ballet had more of the game, held the ball more and were more dangerous on the pitch. In the 55th minute, the very active Vinicius came to the fore again and after a turn near the penalty mark, he fired again only into a ready Trapp.

Three minutes later the first changes in the line-up took place. Naturally, given the way the game was going, Frankfurt decided to strengthen their offensive line. Captain Rode and Lindstrom also left the field. In their place, Kolo Muani and the German strike force Mario Götze came on.

Casemiro hit the crossbar from medium range in the 61st minute. A few moments later, there was a chance on the other side as well. Knauff sneaked in to finish. His attempt was not bad at all, but he again found a ready Curtois.

But it was Real Madrid who practically counter-attacked again. Vinicius Jr. ran down the left and then broke free and found Benzema on the edge of the penalty area, who fired unchallenged and cleared the ball into the net between the hands and body of Trapp.

As with the 1st goal, Frankfurt had their chances and the game seemed fairly even, but once again it was Real’s goal in the end. That is the strength of coach Ancelotti’s charges. His team doesn’t need to create 10 scoring chances per game, thanks to their great productivity, far fewer are enough.

After scoring the goal, Modric said goodbye to the match, and Rodrygo came in his place. A few minutes later, the German side reinforced their attacking ranks. Defender Toure left the field and striker Alario came on.

Another substitution came in the 76th minute, with Camavingh replacing Valderde on the pitch. Frankfurt then got some chances and some pressure. However, it must be said that Real’s defence remained focused and did not allow Frankfurt any major chances.

In the 85th minute of the match, the White Ballet made a triple substitution. Vinicius Jr., Carvajal and Kroos left the field. Tchouaméni, Ceballos and Rüdiger came on. The game didn’t change much in the last few minutes. The experienced players in the white jerseys controlled the game and for obvious reasons did not risk too many offensive efforts.

Frankfurt had their chances, but they didn’t take advantage of them, either by inaccurate finishing or thanks to the great Curtois. Real Madrid dominated the match deservedly. They dominated all the important statistics, had more of the game, kept the ball more and shot much more often. He had more corners, more direct kicks, more accurate passes. And rightly so, the White Ballet won the 98th trophy in the club’s history.

Source: UEFA, Twitter