ANDhe real Madrid seek on Wednesday to be European super champion for the fifth time. In Helsinki, and against Eintracht Frankfurt, Ancelotti and his team will try to win back a title that they have not won since 2017. An appointment that for some is to prolong his brilliant history with Madrid and for others the premiere.
1- Courtois, from red and white
Key in winning the Champions League, the Belgian goalkeeper won the Super Cup 10 years ago when it was still played in Monaco. He did it with Atlético de Madrid, which crushed Chelsea (4-1). In 2018, the one in which the rojiblancos beat Madrid in Tallinn, he was not called up because he had only been a madridista for a week.
2. Carvajal and his goal in 2016
Of the group of players that aspires to have four Supercoopas, the record is held by Dani Alves and Paolo Maldini. Of the three he has, a goal of his in the last minute of extra time was what decided the title in 2016, against Sevilla in Trondheim after Ramos tied the game in his favorite minute: 93.
Carvajal’s great goal that gave Madrid the European Super Cup
3. Militao, first experience
The Brazilian central defender is one of those who will make their debut in Helsinki in this competition. He does it after two seasons in which he has removed doubts and has established himself as a starter.
4. Praise, in two colors
The Austrian already has two European Super Cups, the ones he won with Bayern in 2013 and 2021. In both, against Chelsea and Sevilla, the game went into extra time. Alaba has been winning at least one title per season since 2011-12.
5. Vallejo zero for two
It is not that he has lost two finals. He has lived two as a madridista, but not even on the bench. In the first, the one in Skopje against Manchester United, he was left out of the list. In Tallinn he was injured. In Helsinki he is within the cut of possible discards.
6. Nacho, no minutes
If he plays against Eintracht they will be the first to play in the Super Cup. In Ancelotti’s previous one, the one in 2014 against Sevilla in Cardiff, he did not make the list; The other three (2016, 17 and 18) I lived through on the bench.
7. At last Hazard?
It is one of the questions this season, knowing if Hazard can be important in the white team. The Helsinki final may be the first in which the Belgian has a leading role. He did not play anything in Paris or in the two Madrid Super Cups since his arrival. With Chelsea he lost two in a row: 2012 (Atltico de Madrid) and 2013 (Bayern).
Stay with whoever admires you and flatters you like Valverde does with Kroos
8. Kroos and his first memory
Kroos’s collection of titles with Madrid is at 16. The first of those stops was the 2014 European Super Cup, the one that Madrid beat Sevilla in Cardiff in the first official minutes of German with Madrid’s 8. He is another one who goes for the four of Alves and Maldini. He could already have them, but he could not play in the 2016 final because he had only been training for two days after reaching the semifinals of the European Championship in France with Germany.
9. Benzema would lift the title
Karim reached that 2016 final touched, but he played it. He is one of those who also have three titles. He arrives at this as a great star of the team. And captain. If Madrid wins, Karim will be the one to lift the trophy. He has one goal in the four finals he has played (in the 2018 loss). The tournament record is three…
10. Modric force in Tallinn
The Croatian played the final 63 minutes against Atltico de Madrid after entering the field in the 57th minute for Kroos. It was a craziness, because Modric came from a strenuous World Cup in which Croatia reached the final. It went wrong and that is Modric’s only loss in the four European Super Cup finals he has played.
11. Great goal from Asensio against Sevilla
An impressive left foot from the Balearic opened the scoring in the 2016 final against Sevilla. A house brand target. The following year he played the last quarter of an hour against Manchester United and in 2018 he started in Lopetegui’s eleven. He arrives in Helsinki after a summer in which his name has been among the possible departures.
Asensio’s great goal against Sevilla in the Super Cup
12. Odriozola, without dorsal
A way out is being sought for him because Ancelotti’s message is clear. On the club’s website, like Reinier, he lacks a number. The 2018 Super Cup was his first official match as a Real Madrid player, but he couldn’t get dressed due to injury. S traveled to Tallinn.
13. Lunin, a special year
With his country invaded by Russian troops, the Ukrainian meta travels to Finland, a nation bordering Russia and threatened by Putin. The Champions League was already very special for a Lunin who was Keylor’s substitute in the 2018 final. He has not yet played for Madrid in Europe.
14. Casemiro, from loan to captain general
That of 2014 saw her as a Porto player, to whom she left on loan in mid-July. His goal paved the way for the title in the 2017 Super Cup, against Manchester United in Skopje. He has three crowns and, like Modric, he was one of those who accelerated to help in Tallinn in 2018, but with a quarter of an hour to go in the 90th he was injured.
Fede Valverde is indisputable in this Madrid that starts the 2022-23 season. Helsinki will be the first Super Cup in which the Uruguayan is the protagonist. He was in the 2018 one, but he was a player who took it for granted that he was going to leave before the end of the summer market. He had 27 and did not count for Lopetegui. In the end he stayed in the team to start the flight in which the little bird has become falcon.
Valverde thinks about the Super Cup: “You play for Madrid to win titles”
17. Lucas Vzquez and his pass to Ramos
The great wildcard for the Madrid coaches since Rafa Bentez put him in the wheel, was the one who put the ball at the far post in Trondheim for Ramos to take the final to extra time against Sevilla. It was August 9, 2016 and there were 15 seconds left in the match. Lucas has won two Super Cups and lost the one in Tallinn.
18. Tchouamni, to be released
The Norman midfielder doesn’t know what it’s like to win a title at club level. He conquered the last edition of the League of Nations with France, but his record is about to be released with his teams. He arrives at a team, Real Madrid, which is a guarantee that this gap will not take long to disappear.
19. Ceballos has a job
His departure, which seemed clear, has not come. The competition is extreme, but in the preseason he has sent good signs. He was in the loss in Tallinn in 2018 and entered the field to play pivot when Casemiro was injured. It didn’t go well.
20. In Helsinki by Vinicius
His goal in Paris is what makes Real Madrid go to play the final at the Helsinki Olympic. Nothing remains of that kid who was in the 2018 final sitting on the bench with the label of being too green for the elite. Today, Vinicius is a star for Madrid and one of the most unbalanced players in the world.
21. Rodrygo adds another challenge
In LaLiga it took him a while to score a minute, in the Cup only five, in the Champions League he made a hat trick in his second game… Now he’s making his debut in the European Super Cup. He does not start as a regular in the eleven, but he will surely have minutes against Eintracht. He has already won the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup twice with Madrid.
22- Rdiger defends title
The German is one of the two new faces of Real Madrid this season. Of all those who are in the Helsinki Olympics, I will be the only one to put the title at stake. Because Rdiger won last season against Villarreal in Belfast. He scored Chelsea’s sixth penalty, the one before Albiol’s mistake that gave the Stamford Bridge team the title.
Kepa was the hero of the penalty shootout, stopping Albiol’s final shot
23. Mendy, another rookie
He is Ancelotti’s left-back, which opens up the rotation between central defenders more than expected. The Frenchman is part of the group of madridistas facing the European Super Cup for the first time. He seeks his sixth title as a Real Madrid player.
24. Mariano is a case
He arrived in Madrid after the defeat of the 2018 European Super Cup against Atlético de Madrid. Four years later, it has become an unprecedented case at Madrid: never before has a striker spent so much time at the club with such poor performance and goals (seven since then). He does not count for Ancelotti. He was in the squad for the 2016 Super Cup, but did not make the list.
25. Camavinga throws the door
A year ago he was not a Madrid player and it seemed that PSG was his destiny. He arrives in Helsinki after a packed season finale in which he showed that he is ready to tighten the screws on anyone from CMK. It will be their first European Super Cup after a first season in which they debuted with Madrid with three titles.
Ancelotti goes for the fifth
Carletto is already unique in the Champions League, having won it six times: twice as a Milan player and four as a coach (which no one had ever achieved). In the capital of Finland he is looking for his fifth continental super champion crown. As a player he celebrated one with Milan, when the final was a two-legged match (1990, against Sampdoria), but he missed the previous year against Barcelona; and he has three as a coach, two in key rossonera (2003, Porto, and against Sevilla in 2007) and 2014 with Real Madrid. The legend of the Italian coach has a new appointment, hand in hand with the club that is as much a part of his life as is Milan