Real Madrid gear up to take on Atletico in Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia

Real Madrid players attend a training session ahead of the Spanish Super Cup final against Atletico Madrid on Sunday. - Reuters

The Spanish capital's two soccer powerhouses will face off on Sunday thousands of kilometers from Madrid in the final of the new-look Spanish Super Cup.
Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to decide the winner of the first edition of a revamped tournament.
The Spanish federation expanded the competition to four teams - instead of two - and moved it from the start of the season to its midpoint.
Despite the limited interest the games have drawn back in Spain, the semifinals offered some exciting contests. Madrid showed off the quality of its midfielders to overcome injuries to its forwards in a 3-1 win over Valencia on Wednesday, while Atletico stunned Barcelona with two late goals.
Traditionally the Super Cup was the league vs. cup winner. Barcelona won last season's Liga, while Valencia claimed the Copa del Rey.
Madrid will still be without the injured Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard. Against Valencia, manager Zinedine Zidane successfully experimented with a line-up loaded with five midfielders, and three of them- Toni Kroos, Francisco "Isco" Alarcon and Luka Modric - found the net.
Zidane, however, was tight-lipped over whether he would repeat the formula against Atletico at the King Abdullah stadium.
"I am not going to tell you how we are going to play," Zidane said Friday. "The important thing is that we play on the attack, not with a certain scheme. The important thing is to have a balanced side."
This will be the third time the crosstown rivals have met since the end of last season. Atletico embarrassed Madrid 7-3 in a preseason game in the United States in July. They then drew 0-0 at Atletico's stadium in a Spanish league match in September.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone said that his two most in-form players, goalkeeper Jan Oblak and forward Angel Correa, have recovered from knocks they received against Barcelona. Oblak made several saves to keep his team alive against Lionel Messi's Barcelona until Alvaro Morata and Correa struck to flip the score.
"Madrid is a team that we know very well," Simeone said. "They transmit the sensation that they have to win, and then they do so. We are both teams that are extremely motivated to win this cup and we will both use all our weapons to win this game."