Real Madrid : Top 5 moments of the 2019-20 season

2. Fede Valverde’s last-ditch tackle

The Spanish super cup in its new format hosted in Jeddah had a Madrid derby as the final. Los Blancos defeated Los Che in the first semifinal while the derby rivals Atletico Madrid defeated Clasico rivals FC Barcelona in the other semifinal.

In recent times, especially under Diego Simeone, Atleti has become a tough nut to crack. They’re known as a defensive side that is very tough to break down. While this season, like Real, they’re undergoing a transition and have struggled at times, they’re still a top team.

Come matchday, Atletico played exactly like expected of them. A compact team defending in two banks of four and not giving any space to the Madrid attackers. Los Blancos were resilient too and did not give up any chances easily to Atletico. The game soon went into overtime with the score at 0-0.

In the second period of overtime, around the 115th minute, Los Blancos got a corner that was cleared and turned into an Atleti counter due to a mistake from Dani Carvajal that sent Alvaro Morata clear. Fede Valverde was immediately set on Morata’s tail and soon made a last-ditch tackle to bring Morata down and prevent him from going one on one with Courtois.

It was an important tackle that saved Real Madrid and earned Fede a red card. Without his tackle Morata most probably would have scored leading to Madrid losing the game. Instead, Madrid went on to force the match into penalties and then win the game and tournament. Fede also was awarded the MOTM award for his performance in the game.