Atletico Madrid edged out Real Madrid 4-2 after-extra-time in an enthralling encounter in the Super Cup final on Wednesday evening at the A Le Coq Arena in Estonia.
The match pits the Champions League winners against the Europa league winners, and this particular match-up saw cross town rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid face each other in yet another European show piece occasion.
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The game offered Madrid a taste of life without Cristiano Ronaldo but also gave their new coach Julen Lopetegui a chance test his player understanding of his philosophy.
Atletico on the other hand were looking to blood in their new signings while also getting one back over their rivals who have had their number in the last few European encounters.
Diego Simeone’s team got off to the perfect start when Diego Costa fired them into the lead with just 50 seconds gone. In what was remarkable piece of play, Costa beat Sergio Ramos to a Diego Godin long-ball, the striker chased down his own header before rifling the ball past Keylor Navas from a tight angle.
Los Blancos finally started to get to grips with the pace of the game and had a great chance to grab the equaliser, but Jan Oblak reacted quickly to snuff out the danger from a Marcelo cross with 17 minutes gone.
Lopetegui’s men eventually got the leveller through Karim Benzema with 27 minutes played. Gareth Bale turned on the after-burners to whizz past Theo Hernandez before delivering a pin-point cross to find the Frenchman at the back post, who made no mistaking in nodding the ball home from a tight angle.
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1-1 at the break with the tie firmly in the balance.
The second half started attentively and then suddenly burst to life when Real were awarded a contentious penalty on the 63rd minute mark.
Benzema and Juanfran competed for the ball at a corner, the ball appeared to strike the defenders hand and the referee pointed to the spot.
Ramos stepped up and buried his shot into the bottom corner to give his team the lead.
With 10 minutes to go Real looked to be thinking about shutting up shop to see out the game, but Costa threw a spanner into the works with his second goal of the evening.
Juanfran picked the ball up on the touch line, after Marcelo bizarrely kept it in play, and then found Angel Correa who in-turn squared the ball to Costa who had a tap-in inside the six-yard box.
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Neither side could find a winner in normal time and the game went to extra-time.
Atletico then took the lead for the second time on the night in the first half of extra-time.
Raphael Varane sloppily lost possession on the edge of his own box and the ball was worked to Thomas Partey whose drilled pull-back was met with a ferocious volley by Saul Niguez, which flew past Navas in the blink of an eye.
Simeone’s men then put the tie to bed on 104 minutes. A wonderful flowing move from the Europa League winners saw Vitolo find Koke and the Spanish midfielder picked out the bottom corner with a sublime finish.
Real went in search of goal in the second half of extra-time but could not find a way back into the game.
Atletico Madrid the new Super Cup champions after a 4-2 win over rivals Real Madrid in a thoroughly entertaining clash.
