October 28, 2022
The brief from today:
Spanish Super Cup location confirmed
The next edition of the Spanish Super Cup, which pits the La Liga champions against the Copa del Rey winners, will be played in Saudi Arabia. The Spanish Football Federation announced today that Saudi Arabia will be the location for the 2022 Super Cup, with the match scheduled for January 2023. It won’t just be one match, however, as it will also include two other ties involving the runners up in La Liga, as well as the Copa del Rey. What this means is that the respective winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey—Real Madrid and Real Betis—will play league runner up Barcelona, and losing Copa del Rey finalist Valencia. One semifinal sees Madrid take on Valencia, while the other is between Barcelona and Betis, with the winner from each match set to play in the final on January 15. The three games will be played at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, and this marks the third Spanish Super Cup taking place in the Middle Eastern nation. The Spanish Football Federation goes through the ceremony of confirming the match each season, but the reality is there is already a deal in place to keep playing these finals in Saudi Arabia until 2029, so more of this will be expected in coming years.
Real Madrid won the last Super Cup in Riyadh in January 2022, and they will hope to repeat next year
Allegri makes big announcement on Pogba
With Paul Pogba finally returning to Juventus training last week after two months out following surgery, it was expected that he would soon be appearing in official matches for the first time since his return to Turin from Manchester United. Juventus coach, Massimiliano Allegri, has now poured cold water on that telling the Italian press that the French midfielder won’t be playing before the World Cup break. Speaking before Juve’s match tomorrow against Lecce, Allegri said that he doesn’t expect Pogba, and fellow long term absentee, Federico Chiesa, to feature in the next three matches against Lecce, PSG, or Inter. He said if there was any chance whatsoever for the 29-year-old to play before the World Cup, it would be against either Hellas Verona or Lazio—the last two matches before club football shuts down. The thing about those last two matches, however, is that they are scheduled on November 10 and 13 respectively, both after November 9—which is the day Didier Deschamps will announce his France squad for the World Cup. Deschamps just did an interview yesterday in which he said he wouldn’t be selecting injured players to go to Qatar, but he would make exceptions for lack of match fitness. Well, Pogba—if Allegri is to be believed—will certainly fall in the latter camp considering he hasn’t played a competitive match this season. Deschamps may have spoke too soon because now he will be forced to follow his words with action, one way or the other.
Allegri (left) has effectively ruled out Pogba (center) from any club football before the World Cup