Report’s up! Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Carlo Ancelotti speaks to TNT. “It feels good … a good game … second half much better … we had more space in front … we showed our qualities … Atalanta played really well … we are happy … the first game of the season and we started well … Mbappé did really well … he combined well … we have to be able to play together … this is good for us.”
The presentation ceremony. Both teams form a guard of honour as referee Sandro Schärer and his fellow officials go up to receive their participation medals. Then Atalanta peel off to get their silver medals. They then reassemble to honour Real as they go up for their latest golden trinkets. Dani Carvajal was captain for the night, but relinquished the armband when Luka Modrić came on, and it’s the veteran midfielder who takes receipt of the Super Cup and hoists it into the air. It’s gold-ticker-tape time! Real Madrid are the 2024 Super Cup champions!
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Jude Bellingham talks to TNT Sports. “Really fun … we have a new look team … it seemed to just click tonight … sometimes it takes time … the first half we were still adjusting … the second it all came together and we were brilliant … really nice … it’s going to be a long year if we want to win everything, which is what we want to do … but you have to enjoy nights like tonight … come Sunday [at Mallorca in La Liga] it’s straight back to work … I don’t know if I’ll always score goals or make goals, but hopefully I’ll always be involved in helping the team win, and that’s the most important thing for me … Mbappé is one of those players … a great team-mate … he works like a dog for the team … credit to him, he deserves it … not every game is going to be like this, we’ll have to suffer at times.”
Atalanta’s players mooch over to their fans and a mutual love-in takes place. Some disappointment, sure, but nothing that will leave scar tissue. And they’ll always have Dublin. Real Madrid meanwhile celebrate, which is what they do. All smiles. Winning never gets old.
The reprised Super Cup roll of honour. Because these things are important.
6: Real Madrid
5: AC Milan, Barcelona
4: Liverpool
3: Atlético Madrid
2: Anderlecht, Ajax, Juventus, Valencia, Bayern Munich, Chelsea
1: Dynamo Kyiv, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Aberdeen, Steaua Bucureşti, Porto, Mechelen, Manchester United, Parma, Lazio, Galatasaray, Sevilla, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Manchester City
Carlo Ancelotti and Gian Piero Gasperini warmly embrace. The Atalanta man smiles as he offers his congratulations, no doubt aware that his team were second best tonight. Having said that, things could have panned out differently had Thibaut Courtois not spectacularly clawed out Mario Pašalić’s early second-half header, but once Vinícius Júnior did his thing down the left to tee up Federico Valverde, the outcome was inevitable. Kylian Mbappé clinically dispatched a second, having been found clear in an otherwise crowded box by the unflappable Jude Bellingham, and that was pretty much that. The boys from the Bernabeu will already be dreaming of lifting number 16 in Munich next May.
FULL TIME: Real Madrid 2-0 Atalanta
Real deservedly win the 2024 Super Cup! It’s their sixth: an all-time record. “I’m looking forward to the new Champions League format,” writes Simon McMahon. “It should be fun finding out who Real Madrid will beat in this season’s final.”
90 min: Marco Palestra and Alberto Manzoni come on for Hien and Pašalić. They’ll both get two minutes.
89 min: Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior and Carvajal make way for Arda Güler, Lucas Vázquez and Dani Ceballos.
87 min: Atalanta haven’t given this up, with Lookman continuing to probe. He slips in Ruggeri down the left. A looping cross finds Godfrey at the far stick. Godfrey shins wide right from close range. Somewhere in the multiverse, a player who never scored for Everton in 93 games has notched a hat-trick tonight.
85 min: Lookman has been Atalanta’s liveliest threat on the big European stage, again, and his busy play down the left nearly leads to a goal. He dribbles his way down the touchline before flicking infield for Retegui, who should get a shot away from ten yards but doesn’t.
83 min: Mbappé, his work done, makes way for Brahim Díaz.
82 min: Vinicius Junior spins Djimsiti once again down the left. He reaches the byline and crosses. The ball clips the unfortunate Djimsiti and loops over Musso, landing on the line before spinning backwards and away from goal. Shane Warne would have been proud of the action on that one.
81 min: Retegui clatters Mendy, who rolls around a bit as the clock ticks down.
79 min: Lookman leaves one late on Carvajal’s ankle. Carvajal springs up and fancies a square go. Players get in the way to calm things down. We play on, but Lookman is lucky both referee and VAR are in a relaxed mood. It was a saucy challenge, and players have walked for much less.
77 min: Rodrygo makes way for Luka Modrić, who comes on to the sort of warm and wild reception he deserves.
76 min: Ruggeri crosses from the left. Godfrey, once again making a nuisance of himself in the Real box, battles at the back stick but can’t force a loose ball home.
74 min: Bakker crosses low from the Atalanta left. Godfrey, of all people, slides in and nearly bundles home. Courtois blocks. Real counter, with Rodrygo forcing Musso into action from distance. “This may be a Uefa gig,” observes Peter Oh, “but that first goal - Brazil’s Vini Junior to Uruguay’s Federico Valverde - was made in Conmebol.”
72 min: The move that led to the second goal began with Rodrygo stripping the otherwise impressive Hien of possession and sending Vinicius Junior on his way before Bellingham took over. So all four members of Real’s new attack were involved in that. Good luck to everyone else in Europe this season!
71 min: The corner’s hit long from the right. Bellingham twists and turns on the left-hand corner of the box but can’t quite make enough room for a shot.
70 min: Real win another corner. Before it can be taken, Mitchel Bakker comes on for Kolašinac.
GOAL! Real Madrid 2-0 Atalanta (Mbappé 68)
This is one hell of a way to get off the mark for your new club. Bellingham jinks around to the left of the six-yard box, and waits, and waits, and waits for something to happen. Space suddenly opens up. He cuts the ball back for Mbappé, who from ten yards dispatches a clinical sidefoot into the top right. Such a calm assist, and a glorious finish!
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67 min: Lookman barges his way past Militao down the left but there’s nobody to cross to. Real clear but Atalanta come again through Lookman, who lays off to Ruggeri. A cross from the left is flicked wide of goal by De Roon.
66 min: Bellingham spins into space down the left, enters the box, and shoots low and hard from a tight angle. Musso, who is resisting Real on his own right now, makes another stunning stop.
64 min: Djimsiti is booked for skittling Bellingham out on the left. Atalanta are reeling all right.
63 min: Atalanta are reeling, clinging on, and they make a double change. Ben Godfrey and Mateo Retegui come on for their debuts, Zappacosta and De Katelaere making way.
62 min: … and from the corner, Bellingham shoots through a crowded box. The ball balloons up and looks like dropping into the top-left corner, but with Militão straining to bundle it over the line, Musso somehow gets back to claw it out and away. The whistle goes for a foul on the keeper. What an astonishing save!
61 min: … and it should be two in short order, as Vinicius Junior is sent clear down the middle. He’s only got the keeper to beat, but the ball takes a bobble, and his eventual shot is tipped over by Musso.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Atalanta (Valverde 59)
Here’s the opening goal, and it couldn’t be easier for Valverde, who taps home into an empty net from a couple of yards. All the hard work is done by Vinicius Junior, who teases Djimsiti down the left, then suddenly bursts past his man to reach the touchline and tee up his mate. What an assist!
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58 min: It’s beginning to feel like a goal could be coming, at long last. But for who? Mbappé drives down the right and enters the back, but again Hien refuses to budge, blocking calmly.
57 min: Rudiger attempts to one-two his way through the middle, but upon receiving the return ball from Bellingham, is unceremoniously stopped in his tracks by Hien. Atalanta counter, Lookman again showcasing his skills out on the left flank, but he’s unable to find a team-mate in the middle.
56 min: Valverde, heading down the right at pace, backheels for Bellingham, who aims a curler towards the top-left corner from the edge of the box. High and wide. Shame, that would have been a peach.
54 min: Lookman elegantly spins away from Carvajal on the left flank, then gets a tad carried away with himself by attempting to nutmeg Militão. The Real defender isn’t having any of it, standing his ground then clearing.
53 min: A bit of space and time for Carvajal out on the right. His low shot-cum-cross is deflected and nearly squeaks into the bottom right. Just a corner … and one that leads to nothing.
52 min: … so having said that, the game suddenly turns scrappy again. Of course it does.
50 min: Mbappé can’t quite sort his feet for a shot. Then Vinícius Júnior dribbles down the left to win a corner. Musso plucks the set piece out of the sky. This second half is so much better than the first already.
48 min: Real don’t clear the corner properly, and the ball drops to Ruggeri, who from the edge of the box slashes a wild drive wide left. The flag pops up for an offside in the box.
47 min: Atalanta respond by nearly scoring themselves. De Roon curls a cross in from the right. Pašalić, on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box, rises highest to aim a header back across goal and towards the top-right corner. Courtois extends fully to tip around the post for a corner.
46 min: Mbappe immediately goes on a speed ramble down the left, turning Djimsiti this way and that, before entering the box and lashing a shot over the bar.
Real get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time entertainment. Mbappé v Yamal v Álvarez? Yes please!
HALF TIME: Real Madrid 0-0 Atalanta
Both teams have hit the crossbar, though that makes the first half sound much better than it was.
45 min +1: Vinícius Júnior, to the right of the D, strokes a clever diagonal pass with the outside of his boot to Rodrygo, just inside the box on the left. Rodrygo leans back and pings the ball off the top of the bar. As close as Real have come.
45 min: There will be two additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Lookman glides down the left and switches play for Zappacosta, who crosses. Real only half clear, and Lookman, now on the edge of the D, brings it down to shoot. Deflection. Corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but that was a decent, flowing move. Lookman likes these big European showpieces all right.
42 min: Scrub that friendly bit: Vinícius Júnior is booked for standing on De Roon’s foot. A late challenge that earns the striker a booking. He can have no complaints, but makes some anyway.
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41 min: A glorified pre-season friendly, some say. It’s certainly got that feel at the moment.
39 min: Vinícius Júnior attempts to skin Hien down the left but only manages to clank the ball out for a goal kick. Neither keeper has had any serious work to do.
37 min: That yellow card was punishment for Bellingham putting Musso in danger with his lunge, though by extending his leg as the keeper went down, he was courting trouble for himself as well. He’s lucky Musso’s weight didn’t come down on his planted leg, or that could have been grisly.
35 min: Real counter immediately, and Vinícius Júnior wedges a delicate defence-splitter down the inside-left channel. Bellingham times his run perfectly to chest down, but Musso comes off his line to smother. Bellingham extends a leg to contest a ball that was only briefly loose, and is booked for the challenge.
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34 min: Tchouameni, half asleep, gives up possession in the centre circle. For a second, it looks as though Lookman will tear clear, but the Europa League final’s hat-trick hero miscontrols and allows Rudiger to tidy up.
33 min: This is very scrappy now.
31 min: The crowd are still giving it plenty, despite the lack of drama.
29 min: Ruggeri finds a bit of space on the left and crosses low. Tchouameni hooks clear. This game still hasn’t taken off.
27 min: Ederson has a dig from distance. Wide right, but only just. Had it been on target, a few inches left, towards the top corner, Courtois might not have got to that.
25 min: De Roon scampers after a quick throw down the right. He enters the box and whips in a cross. From a tight angle, the ball pings off Militao and loops towards the top-left corner, Courtois completely wrong-footed. But it clips off the top of the bar and away. That would have been a farcical opener.
23 min: De Ketelaere knocks the ball past Rudiger on the right, only to be unceremoniously checked. A muted call for a penalty, but De Ketelaere was looking for the contact and the claim isn’t convincing. We play on.
22 min: Now it’s Real’s turn to stroke it around patiently. This game hasn’t quite taken off. Plenty of time left yet for the 2024-25 season to turn into a campaign for the ages.
20 min: Djimsiti attempts to release De Ketelaere down the inside-right channel but overcooks the pass. Goal kick. Shame for Atalanta, because De Ketelaere was in a big pocket of space just inside the Real box.
19 min: Atalanta, having just shipped a couple of decent chances, calm things down with some careful passing in the middle of the park.
17 min: Carvalal curls a low cross in from the right. Vinícius Júnior is inches away from toe-poking it home from six yards, but can’t quite extend his leg far enough. Uncut toenails, and that was the opening goal.
15 min: Valverde romps into acres on the right and rolls across for Mbappé, whose eyes light up, ten yards out. He opens his body and shoots, but Hien arrives to block bravely. The first chance of Mbappé’s Real career. There will be others.
14 min: Mendy releases Rodrygo down the left with a raking pass, but the Real striker is forced to turn tail by Kolašinac.
12 min: Zappacosta goes down while contesting a loose ball with Mendy. There doesn’t appear to be much in the way of contact, but the Atalanta man has taken some sort of whack upside his head. On comes the physio to fit an ostentatious webbed bandage over his noggin. Thankfully Zappacosta is otherwise good to continue.
10 min: Atalanta keeper Musso, the ball at his feet, is very nearly closed down by Vinícius Júnior. He hacks away just in time. Then a tussle in midfield between Ederson and Valverde, the former with his arms around the latter’s waist from behind. It earns Ederson the first booking of the game. A slightly harsh one, if we’re being honest.
8 min: That’s given Atalanta a boost, and they gain their first foothold in the game with some assured possession in the middle of the park.
6 min: De Ketelaere slips Zappacosta into space down the right with a cute pass. Zappacosta reaches the byline but can’t work out whether to cross or shoot, and eventually does neither. Lookman is then harshly penalised for a nudge on Militão in the middle, and the whistle goes. A first flash of promise for the Italians, though.
5 min: Mbappé gets his first meaningful touch, just inside the Atalanta box on the left. He’s crowded out of it by De Roon and Hien, but the sense of expectation was palpable when the new man took up possession.
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4 min: Vinícius Júnior is clattered by Hien out on the left. He picks up possession from the free kick and wins the game’s first corner. Rodrygo takes, and it’s cleared with ease. It’s all Real in these very early exchanges.
2 min: It’s not long before Real snaffle possession and start stroking the ball around. Rodrygo drops a shoulder in an attempt to skip past Kolašinac on the right only to be skittled. A chance to load the box and fling a free kick into the mixer … but Real opt against it, and restart the game with a tappity-tap-tap.
Atalanta get the ball rolling. Their new signings Mateo Retegui and Ben Godfrey on the bench.
The teams emerge from the tunnel! Real Madrid captain Dani Carvajal carries the European Cup; his opposite number Marten de Roon holds the Europa League trophy. Both pots are popped up on a plinth, then the teams line up for pre-match photos. Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid in white, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta in blue and black. We’ll be off in a minute! There’s expectation in the air, albeit giving off a gentle hum rather than a crackle. Excited, Charles Antaki? “I don’t think I am. Real Madrid will probably win, so why don’t we just go to penalties directly – but to make it last a bit longer, and give people in the stadium a bit more value for their money, make it best of say 35 kicks, maybe? Or 100 if that doesn’t seem worth the effort to get to Warsaw.”
Should Real win tonight, they’ll become the most successful club in Super Cup history. File alongside their 15 European Cups, two Uefa Cups, five Club World Cups and three Intercontinental Cups, and they’re pretty good at international football. There’s a Cup Winners’ Cup shaped hole on their resumé, mind, the footballing equivalent of Don Bradman’s 99.94, John Hewitt the Eric Hollies of this particular piece. Anyway, that Super Cup roll of honour …
5: AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid
4: Liverpool
3: Atlético Madrid
2: Anderlecht, Ajax, Juventus, Valencia, Bayern Munich, Chelsea
1: Dynamo Kyiv, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Aberdeen, Steaua Bucureşti, Porto, Mechelen, Manchester United, Parma, Lazio, Galatasaray, Sevilla, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Manchester City
… and any old excuse to post this stone-cold classic.
Real Madrid make three changes to the team that started the Champions League final. Kylian Mbappé makes his competitive debut for his new club, while Aurélien Tchouameni and Éder Militão return to the first XI. Eduardo Camavinga drops to the bench, while Nacho has left for Al-Qadsiah and Toni Kroos has retired.
There are two changes to the Atalanta team sent out to win the Europa League final. Captain Marten de Roon returns along with Mario Pašalić; Gianluca Scamacca has ruptured his ACL while Teun Koopmeiners – probably Juventus bound but a possible last-ditch target for Liverpool – has been left out of the squad after sacking off training.
Atalanta fans have been covering up Teun Koopmeiners face in Warsaw 👏💙🖤 pic.twitter.com/lFsqu7pSj9
— Atalanta BC News (@AtalantaBC_News) August 13, 2024
The teams
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Eder Militao, Rudiger, Mendy, Valverde, Tchouameni, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe.
Subs: Lunin, Camavinga, Modric, Guler, Endrick, Lucas, Vallejo, Ceballos, Garcia, Diaz, Gonzalez, Ramon.
Atalanta: Musso, Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, de Roon, Ederson Silva, Ruggeri, Pasalic, De Ketelaere, Lookman.
Subs: Carnesecchi, Rossi, Godfrey, Sulemana, Bakker, Cassa, Palestra, Retegui, Comi, Tornaghi, Manzoni, Vavassori.
Referee: Sandro Scharer (Switzerland).
Preamble
It’s 74 days since Real Madrid won their 15th European Cup …
… and 84 since Atalanta lifted their first continental prize …
… and so here we are. The Spanish giants are competing in their ninth Super Cup, the upwardly mobile Italians their first. Real Madrid go into tonight’s showdown in Warsaw as hot favourites, on account of being Real Madrid. Atalanta are good enough to spring a surprise, though, as evidenced by the proper number they did on the otherwise invincible Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final. So this could be fun. Or a thundering non-event, this being a pre-season affair after all. Kick-off is at 8pm BST, 9pm in Poland, and we’ll go straight to penalty kicks if the scores are level at the end. European football is back, baby! It’s on!
