Real Madrid pulled off an exhilarating 5-3 victory against their arch-rivals Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Riyadh on Wednesday, with a late surge during the second period of extra time.
The defending champions will face off against the winner of the match between Barcelona and Osasuna, which is set to take place on Thursday, in the final to be held in the Saudi capital next Sunday.
Atletico Madrid initiated the scoring with an early header from Mario Hermoso in the sixth minute. However, Real Madrid quickly responded, as Antonio Rudiger equalized, followed shortly by Ferland Mendy putting them ahead.
Antoine Griezmann matched the score for Atletico with a spectacular long-range shot in the 37th minute.
A blunder by goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, which saw his clearance ricochet off his teammate Rudiger and into the net, gave Atletico the lead once again in the 78th minute. But near the end, Dani Carvajal scored the equalizer to push the game into two additional periods.
As the match appeared to be heading towards a penalty shootout, an unfortunate bounce off defender Stefan Savic resulted in an own goal just five minutes before the end of regulation time.
In the game's dying embers, Ibrahim Diaz capitalized on a counterattack, slotting the ball into an empty net after Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak had ventured into Real's penalty area in a desperate attempt to equalize from a corner kick in the final moments.
The thrilling night in Riyadh saw eight scintillating goals in the derby, shared with elation on the @ssc_sports Twitter page, along with a commentary highlight by announcer Ali Al Kaabi.
