In the sweetness of Helsinki, Real Madrid, winner of the Champions League, will set off on Wednesday (9:00 p.m.) to attack the UEFA Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt, crowned in the Europa League, with the want to start his season with a first trophy.
The snub Kylian Mbappé digested, Real arrives full of certainties, with its recent continental title and its promising recruits, Antonio Rüdiger and Aurélien Tchouaméni, who will play their first official match in the Madrid jersey.
Quite the opposite of Eintracht, which has just been swept away 6-1 at home by Bayern Munich on Friday at the opening of the German championship, and which will have to do without its left midfielder Filip Kostic, not retained in the group of Eintracht for this match because it is “in talks in the process of being concluded with another club”, according to a press release from the German club which fell on Tuesday noon.
The Serbian star of Eintracht has reached a pre-agreement with Juventus of Turin, according to the press, and is only waiting for the two clubs to agree on the amount of transfer fees (Kostic is still in contract until June 2023), which amount to around fifteen million euros.
Friday, during the correction received against Bayern, Kostic sent the supporters a strong greeting … perhaps definitive.
A consecration for history
In Madrid, on the other hand, this Supercup is seen as an opportunity to start the season with a first title, four days before the first day of the championship in Almeria.
Real are coming off a convincing summer tour of the United States, with a narrow defeat against Barça (1-0), a 2-2 draw against Club América and a 2-0 victory against Juve.
In the event of a coronation, Carlo Ancelotti will become the first coach in history to accumulate four European Super Cups.
Karim Benzema could surpass Raul's 323 goals in the Merengue jersey and become the only 2nd top scorer in club history.
The French striker could also equal the 23 titles of legend Paco Gento, and take a step closer to the Ballon d'Or, which already seems to be reaching out to him two months before the ceremony (October 17).
And this trophy would be the 98th in the big cabinet of Real, the most successful club in the world, ahead of Barça's 96.
Challenge for UEFA
This European Super Cup will also be a new challenge for UEFA: after the excesses that marred the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on May 28, the body that manages European football knows that the football world will have its eyes fixed on it and on the small Olympic stadium in Helsinki (36,000 seats).
Especially since German supporters are known to move massively, as in the Europa League final in Seville on May 18, won on penalties (1-1, 5-4 pens against Glasgow Rangers), where more than 50,000 Eagles fans had flocked.
A month earlier, 30,000 German fans had flocked to Camp Nou to see their team defeat FC Barcelona 3-2 in the quarter-final second leg.
It will also be the first appearance of semi-automated offside technology, which UEFA will install in the Champions League from September.
A promising first major football celebration of the season in Helsinki, between two teams who have vivid memories of their last official confrontation: in the C1 final in May 1960, the "White House" had crushed Eintracht 7-3 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, starting his legend.