European and Spanish champions Real Madrid beat Mallorca 3-0 to set up a Spanish Supercopa final with Barcelona.
Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo’s goals gave Real Madrid a 3-0 win over Mallorca and set up the Spanish Super Cup final with rivals Barcelona.
Madrid have a chance to avenge their heavy Clasico defeat in October’s LaLiga after Bellingham’s deft second-half strike put them on their way to victory in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
Thanks to the strong support of the fans in Jeddah, Madrid never seemed to lose the advantage and a Martin Valjent own goal in stoppage time secured victory, while Rodrygo scored the third from close range.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was full of praise for the way his team took control of the game as an attacking force in the second half. “If they get active up front, anything can happen,” he said of his three front attackers and Bellingham. “The four (strikers) are very dangerous. That’s pretty obvious. Everyone can see what quality they have.”
Real Madrid edged past last season’s Copa del Rey runners-up early, with Lucas Vazquez and Rodrygo Goes going close in the early stages.
Kylian Mbappe called for a penalty after going down under pressure from Dani Rodriguez but it would have been soft.
Jagoba Arrasate’s Mallorca found their footing and did well to limit the Spanish and European champions to no further clear-cut chances in the first half.
Madrid lost Aurelien Tchouameni early in the second half after he suffered a head injury in a challenge with Cyle Larin, but appeared frustrated that he was withdrawn.
Madrid broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute when Bellingham hit the post and Mallorca goalkeeper Dominik Greif kept Rodrygo and Mbappé at bay.
A brilliant move by Madrid bore fruit when Rodrygo’s header from Vinicius Junior’s cross hit the post and Mbappe’s effort was parried by the struggling Greif.
Bellingham was in the right place at the right time to carefully sink the rebound past the defenders on the goal line, continuing his impressive individual form.
The England international has scored eight goals in his last ten games in all competitions for Madrid.
“Jude is a phenomenal player. “He’s constantly helping us win games, with goals, assists or just his work,” Bellingham’s midfield colleague Tchouameni remarked afterwards, adding that he was uninjured from the head collision that took him out of the game.
Mallorca struggled to find a way back into the goal and eventually contributed to Madrid’s second goal when Valjent stretched to parry a pass but pushed the ball into his own goal.
Rodrygo secured the victory late on, setting up a repeat of last season’s final, won by defending Super Cup champions Madrid.
Madrid will have to wait for Luka Modric’s availability for Sunday’s final after the midfielder fell ill and missed Thursday’s game.
“Our player Luka Modric will be out against Mallorca due to a viral illness,” the Spanish champions said in a statement just hours before the semi-final.
Croatian midfielder Modric, 39, became Madrid’s oldest goalscorer when he scored against Valencia in LaLiga last week.
