RIYADH: The Real Madrid and Barcelona managers see the Spanish Super Cup final as an occasion that stands out both for the trophy on the line and the sporting spectacle it creates, as they prepare for Sunday’s match to be played in Riyadh for the second year.

Super Cup’s second El Clasico final in a row will see the La Liga giants face off on foreign soil for the third time in a year, after Barcelona won last January’s final 3-1, also in Riyadh, and beat Real 3-0 in a friendly in the United States in July.

“It’s always exciting to prepare for this type of match... it’s going to be a great spectacle,” Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters on Saturday.

Though Real have had the upper hand in the rivalry this season, beating Barca 2-1 in October and building a seven-point lead at the top of the league, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez said no one had an advantage going into the final.

“I have the feeling that Real is stronger when Barca is stronger. Since I’ve been on the [Barcelona] bench, to win a title we’ve had to go above Madrid. It’s all very even,” he said.

“We will try to dominate the game, impose our personality, our way of playing and dominate the ball... we have the example of last year and this is the ideal scenario to show it again.”

While Xavi drew inspiration from last year’s final, Ancelotti played down its relevance.

“Real Madrid don’t go out for revenge, they go out to the limit because that’s the requirement of this shirt and this club,” he said.

“We’re one step away from the first trophy of the season. We’re going to try to do what we have to do, which is to try to win the final.”

Officials for the final, referee Juan Martinez Munuera and his VAR colleague Cesar Soto Grado, meanwhile, said they are fed up of the Barcelona refereeing scandal under investigation, and the impact the case is having on their lives and profession.

Last year the Catalan club and several of their former directors were charged with bribery by a Spanish judge after alleged payments to former Spanish refereeing vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

“This topic is starting to boil my blood, I am very tired of the ‘Negreira case’,” said Soto Grado at a news conference in Riyadh. “Just because there is one corrupt person in a company, it does not mean everyone else has to be as well.”

Negreira allegedly earned over seven million euros ($7.5 million) from Barcelona between 2001 and 2018, through companies supposedly producing refereeing reports, according to the club.

In recent days Spanish media outlets have reported on referees testifying before Spanish police as part of the investigation into the payments made by Barcelona.

Martinez Munuera said that the Negreira case is affecting him in his daily life. “You go to the supermarket, you’re with your wife and your son, and there are people who call you corrupt,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024