Real Madrid FC
Three quick thoughts as the 2016 UEFA Super Cup finishes Real Madrid 3-2 Sevilla after extra time at Trondheim’s Lerkendal Stadium:
- Carvajal the unlikely late winner
Champions League winners Real Madrid bested last season’s Europa League victors Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup, with right-back Dani Carvajal the unlikely hero thanks to his 119th-minute game winner.
The first half brought excellent debut strikes for Real Madrid youngster Marco Asensio, who shone during his side’s early dominance, and Sevilla’s summer signing Franco Vazquez, whose equaliser seemed sure to be the game’s major turning point.
Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos was the main man in the second half, first tripping Sevilla winger Vitolo for a penalty coolly converted by substitute Yevhen Konoplyanka. Then, in the 93rd minute, the former Sevilla defender arrived unmarked at the back post to head home and send the game into extra time.
The match seemed to be heading for penalties until defender Carvajal sliced straight through an exhausted Sevilla defence and clipped a super finish into the back of the net. It was fitting, in a way, that a player who rested this summer after missing Euro 2016 with an injury picked up in May’s Champions League final lasted the longest and made the difference.
An unfamiliar Madrid starting XI featured just four of May’s victorious UCL starters, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and other stars still recovering from their international exertions this summer, and 20-year-old Asensio taking his chance to shine.
Incoming Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli named most of the side which won last season’s Europa League final — although new man Vazquez was the pick of his team, which improved as time went on even if the pace was not really up to competitive level at times.
At 1-1 midway through the second half, Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane tried to change things by sending on recently returned Karim Benzema and Luka Modric. But it was another rusty Blancos player who made the biggest impact, with Ramos characteristically appearing first as hero and then as villain.
Sevilla were down to 10 men when defender Timothee Kolodziejczak picked up a second yellow card early in extra time. Ramos had the ball in the net again, although it was ruled out by the officials, who also turned away a clear penalty claim when Modric was kicked by Sevilla midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake.
Just as it seemed Sampaoli’s men would have their chance in penalties, there was more heartbreak for Sevilla after last year’s 5-4 defeat to Barcelona, when Carvajal struck. Meanwhile, Madrid’s history of dramatic late European final victories continues, albeit this time with a new hero.
- Asensio announces his arrival with cracking goal on debut
Zidane’s most interesting selection call was to leave the recently arrived James Rodriguez on the bench and start young playmaker Asensio on the left of midfield.
After a quiet opening 21 minutes, Asensio picked up a ball 25 yards from goal, saw he had some space and swerved an unstoppable shot into the top right-hand corner of Sergio Rico’s goal. It was a strike straight from the top drawer from the youngster, who became the youngest scorer in a European final in all the Bernabeu club’s gilded history.
Marco Asensio scored a brilliant strike from distance for Real Madrid in the first half of the UEFA Super Cup.
The Balearic islander was easily Madrid’s most creative player, outshining fellow midfielders Isco and Mateo Kovacic, and almost setting up chances for attackers Alvaro Morata and Lucas Vazquez. He had impressed on loan at Espanyol last season, where he was parked following a €3.7 million arrival from hometown club Real Mallorca, but this goal and first-half performance take him to a whole other level.
Zidane had suggested recently that Asensio, who earned Tuesday’s start with performances during the recent U.S. tour, will not go back out on loan again for 2016-17. This showing suggests that even with everyone back he can have a big impact for Los Blancos this season.
It also means that overbooking in playmaking roles could see club president Florentino Perez move on at least one of James (who missed two late chances to be the hero), Kovacic or Isco before the window closes at the end of August.
- Vazquez makes a statement with strike in first Sevilla game
New Sevilla coach Sampaoli said pregame that he wanted his side to show “bravery and rebel spirit,” and Vazquez, a €15m signing from Serie A side Palermo, was the player who most showed this attitude.
Franco Vazquez levelled the score at 1-1 in the first half of his Sevilla debut against Real Madrid.
Quiet spoken “El Mudo” Vazquez was behind most of his team’s best work, even when they struggled to get used to Sampaoli’s favoured 4-3-3 shape early on. He found inspiration on 41 minutes when Madrid’s defence let a cross drop, opening up space for him to guide the ball between two defenders and past Kiko Casilla to the far corner.
Vazquez improved further after the goal, often dropping deep from No. 10 to link his team’s play together. He finished the game at centre-forward, after another summer signing, Luciano Vietto, on loan from Atletico Madrid, was unsurprisingly substituted after a quiet showing.
In extra time, with his team a man down, Vazquez was still their brightest hope, and almost made it 3-2 with a powerful strike deflected wide. ESPN.com
