“It’s the most watched game in the world”, welcomed the TV channel L’Équipe, as an introduction to the FC Barcelona-Real Madrid poster, Wednesday January 12. For the first time in the centenary history of the rivalry between the two football clubs (excluding friendly matches), this 247and clasico took place outside the Spanish borders, in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.
Almost 5,000 kilometers from Madrid, this Spanish Super Cup semi-final was won 3-2 by Karim Benzema and his teammates. On Sunday, the King-Fahd stadium will again host the final between Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, winner (1-2) of Atlético de Madrid in the other semi-final.
Historically, the Spanish Super Cup opposed the outgoing champion to the holder of the King’s Cup at the start of the season, in a round-trip confrontation. In 2019, the Royal Spanish Football Federation signed a very lucrative contract with Saudi Arabia to host three editions of the competition. Not only has the Spanish Super Cup moved from one peninsula to another, but it has been transformed: since then it has brought together four teams (the first two in the championship and the two Cup finalists) in a mini-tournament shifted in winter.
Asked at a press conference on Tuesday January 11 about this trip to the Gulf, Raul Garcia, the experienced midfielder of the Bilbao club, publicly denounced what his peers usually prefer to think quietly: “We are playing a tournament specific to our country, and obviously I think that going abroad to play it makes no sense. »
“What matters now is to generate money”
“ I am from the old school and I see that football has changed, in the sense that nobody cares about the fans anymore, continued Raul Garcia, disillusioned. What matters now is to generate money, to attract sponsors. I think we forget the basics of football, that atmosphere that makes games different, that fans like to watch a game as a family. In three sentences, the Basque summed up the ills of current football.
Besides cutting oneself off from “its basics”, this Spanish Super Cup relocated to Saudi Arabia ignores any sporting logic in a calendar increasingly overloaded with national and international competitions, clubs and selections.
“If there was a players’ union, we wouldn’t be playing a Nations League or a Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia”, lamented in November 2020 Toni Kroos, Real Madrid midfielder, at the microphone of the podcast “Einfach mal Luppen” and in remarks reported by The Team. The German world champion added: “These competitions are created to physically drain players and make as much money as possible. » How to prove these critics wrong?
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