Super Cup in Saudi Arabia starts sequence of crunch Madrid derbies

You can take a Madrid derby 3,000 miles away from the capital of Spain, but no distance will ever blunt its sharp edge. No sooner had the identity of the referee taking charge of Wednesday’s Super Cup semi-final, Real versus Atletico, been revealed than the snarling and the grumbling began.

He is Javier Alberoja Rojas and he arrived in Riyadh for the opening fixture of the three-match event to a familiar chorus of scepticism from Real Madrid’s own club TV channel, where scrutiny of refereeing decisions makes up an ever greater proportion of the programming.

Alberoja Rojas would have anticipated as much. Real supporters and several senior figures within the club complained long and loud about his officiating after they lost 3-1 at Atletico in late September, their sole defeat so far in a season where they hold the leadership of La Liga at the midway stage and have won six out of six in the Champions League group phase.

The gripes reveal more about the complainants than the referee, who is perceived to have allowed Atletico too much leeway in isolated moments of robustness during the last derby. But Alberoja Rojas was not the weak point in that fixture. Real’s lax marking and difficulties defending crosses were.

Atletico’s Alvaro Morata, the target man centre-forward who began his much-travelled career at Real, scored twice, and Antoine Griezmann made it three headed goals to sink their local rivals.

If the manner of that loss raised concerns for Real head coach Carlo Ancelotti, the injury issues that have afflicted his squad pose further questions for Real against the one side who have worked out how to beat them in 2023/24.

The season began with the major setback of long-term injury to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, and