European Super Cup, Atalanta does what it can: Real Madrid wins again

An even half and the fatal Valverde-Mappé double flash in the second half, on the wings of an undeniable technical superiority and the individuality of a Real Madrid side that conquered the record sixth European Super Cup, leaving Milan and Barcelona at 5. Atalanta were not able to pull off the miracle because their forces were exhausted, and they came close to taking the lead with Pasalic on their return to the pitch, taking the one-two in eight minutes without recovering and regaining their composure, deprived as they were of Zaniolo, Scamacca, Scalvini, Koopmeiners and Touré.

In the 6th minute Lookman's thrust at Militao thwarted Zappacosta's quick-fire overlap to De Ketelaere, while seven minutes later Lookman put in a centre from the left flank only to find Courtois' gloves in the grasp. Far more dangerous was the Carbajal-Valverde action on the right which, on the quarter-hour mark, freed Mbappé to shoot, but Hien countered with his body. The Bergamasque side, initially inclined to concede possession to their higher-ranked opponents, pressed and ended up taking the field, until De Roon's cross in the 25th minute with a cross-shot from a deflected position deflected off Militao's head and suggested by Zappacosta's throw-in, as well as Ederson's inaccurate attempt from outside the box after Lookman's insertion with Tchouameni's short throw-in.

In the 34th minute the Ederson-Lookman counter-attack broken up by Rudiger preceded the back-and-forth in a more open and less tactical end to the half, with the Madrid players defending anyway in a 4-4-2, followed by the high leg-shoulder clash between Bellingham, who did not stop and was cautioned, and goalkeeper Musso over Vinicius' dig. Then the nervous Vinicius, at the umpteenth clear advance by De Roon, kicked him on the foot and ended up in the naughty notebook. The back-and-forth was in the final minutes of the half, but while Lookman was recovered in the corner by the defence, it was Rodrygo who evened the crossbar count by hitting a delightful ball from Vinicius' edge before the recovery.

The second half began with Pasalic coming close to taking the lead by heading De Roon's cross: Courtois' volley saved the Merengues. It was 2 minutes in and the first shot in the mirror of the match sounded the alarm for the stronger side. The 1-0 lead was in the air and Musso's very short deflection favoured him: Mendy recovered a header down the wing, Bellingham projected Vinicius, whose comfortable ball was pushed across goal from zero metres out by Valverde. Musso temporarily prevented Ancelotti's men from doubling their lead by lifting Vinicius' shot over the crossbar in the 16th minute when Bellingham's scrum-half shot was deflected in by Ruggeri. The Englishman was unleashed, trying again on 21 minutes to find the Argentine goalkeeper's foot and then, to close matters out, Mbappé, who put his right-footed shot under the crossbar on 23 minutes for his first goal with the Merengue. In the 27th minute Courtois cincischiare a little on Bakker's cross, getting help from Tchouameni, then Ruggeri's cross on the foot of the other newcomer Godfrey was blocked by Militao on the half-hour mark with Rodrygo coming close to scoring the hat-trick by receiving from Mbappé in the middle of the ford. With 1' to go in the 90th minute Godfrey missed the flagship goal offered to him by Ruggeri, then Gasperini conceded the passerelle to youngsters Palestra and Manzoni, both 2005, the second making his absolute debut.