WATCH: Real Madrid progress to Supercopa final after penalty shoot-out

Real Madrid will have the opportunity to defend their Spanish Supercopa crown in Sunday’s final, having defeated a defiant Valencia side on penalties in Riyadh.

Los Blancos dominated the early exchanges, and got their reward after 39 minutes. Karim Benzema was played through on goal, before being upended by Los Che defender Eray Comert. The Frenchman dusted himself off to slot past Giorgi Mamardashvili to give the defending champions the lead.

For all their first half dominance, it mattered very little when Valencia equalised 22 seconds into the second period. Toni Lato, playing on the right instead of his usual left side, was allowed space to cross to the back post, and Samuel Lino volleyed past Thibaut Courtois to level the scores.

Real Madrid pressed for a second goal, but were denied by Mamardashvili on multiple ocassions. Vinicius Jr and Toni Kroos saw efforts saved by the Georgian keeper, whose opposite number Courtois made a huge stop to deny Los Che substitute Francisco Perez.

It meant that penalties would decide who progressed to Sunday’s final. Edinson Cavani and Benzema each netted their respective team’s opening spot kicks, before Comert made it a night to forget by blazing his effort over the bar.

Luka Modric, Kroos and Marco Asensio each netted their penalties for Real Madrid, which meant that Valencia captain Jose Gaya needed to score to keep Los Che in the shootout, but the full back saw his effort saved by Courtois.

Real Madrid will now face the winner of Thursday’s second semi-final, which is between Real Betis and Barcelona.

Tags Real Madrid Spanish Supercopa Valencia
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