Friday, January 13, 2023 – 12:04 PM
RIYADH, January 13, WAM/ 24 hours following Real Madrid qualified for the Spanish Super Cup final thanks to the clear brilliance of its Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Barcelona goalkeeper, also wore the mantle of excellence and led his team to the final itself.
Ter Stegen starred with Barcelona during his match once morest Real Betis yesterday evening, Thursday, and the German goalkeeper saved two penalty kicks, so that his team won 4-2 over Betis on penalties following the match ended in a 2-2 draw in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Courtois played the most prominent role in Real Madrid’s arrival yesterday, Wednesday, to the Super Cup final, following beating Valencia 4-3 on penalties, also following the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
With this, Ter Stegen and Courtois became the password for Riyadh to witness the day following tomorrow, Sunday, an exciting “Clasico” match for the Spanish Super title.
And the Spanish Football Association announced that Courtois was the best player in the Real Madrid and Valencia match, and the federation also indicated in its report on the second match in the golden square that “penalty kicks and Ter Stegen led Barcelona to the Super Final.”
Despite the brilliance of Barcelona, led by its Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, in most of the match, the team did not succeed in maintaining its lead with the goal that Lewandowski scored in the first half, and his net conceded the equalizer regarding a quarter of an hour before the end of the original time in yesterday’s match, so that the match headed towards extra time, which witnessed a goal. For each team to rule the penalty shootout.
The penalty shootout demonstrated the state of brilliance that Ter Stegen is going through, and that the final match between the two teams the day following tomorrow, Sunday, will witness a confrontation of a special kind between goalkeepers Courtois and Ter Stegen in the struggle of the poles of Spanish football for the first titles of the current season.
Dina Omar / Ahmed Zahran
