JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Real Madrid got goals from Federico Valverde and Rodrygo to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Thursday, setting up a clasico final at the Spanish Super Cup played in Saudi Arabia.
Valverde put Madrid ahead just two minutes into the match in Jeddah when the Uruguay midfielder scored directly from a free kick with a fierce strike that Jan Oblak could not keep out.
Click to Gallery
Atletico Madrid's Conor Gallagher, right, duels for the ball with Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid players celebrate after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, foreground, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, right, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, foreground, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Valverde then helped make it 2-0 in the 55th when he threaded a pass through the middle of Atletico’s defense to meet Rodrygo’s run. The Brazil forward, who is playing well after a subpar season last year, did the rest by beating Oblak with a low strike for the winner.
Alexander Sorloth pulled Atletico close three minutes later when the striker headed in a cross by Giuliano Simeone. Atletico pressed for the equalizer but came up short.
Madrid was playing without the injured Kylian Mbappé, sidelined with a left knee sprain for a second straight game.
Xabi Alonso’s team will face Barcelona in the final of four four-team tournament on Sunday.
Valverde’s goal was his first of the season. He has struggled to join the attack this campaign because he has been forced to play out of position at right back due to injuries to Dani Carvajal and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“After so many games without scoring, today was a great day to find the net again and for the team to win,” Valverde said. “We must be prepared, rested and focused to win the final.”
Atletico created several chances to score in the final half but goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois did well to parry a point-blank header by Sorloth and a long strike by Alex Baena.
Atletico had beaten Madrid 5-2 when they met in La Liga in September.
Barcelona routed Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on Wednesday in the other semifinal. Last year, Barcelona thumped Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final.
Atletico midfielder Koke Resurrección set a new record for Madrid derbies after playing his 44th game against his crosstown rival. That broke a tie he had with former Madrid star defender Sergio Ramos.
But after the loss, Koke concentrated on the missed opportunity for his team.
“It hurts because we wanted to be in the final,” the 34-year-old Koke said. “We got off on the wrong foot after (Valverde’s) great goal. We had our chances, but the ball wouldn’t go in.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Atletico Madrid's Conor Gallagher, right, duels for the ball with Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid players celebrate after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, foreground, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, right, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde, foreground, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Spanish Super Cup semifinal soccer match against Atletico Madrid at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.
The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule bolted out of orbit around Earth right on cue and chased after the moon to nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.
It was the first such engine firing for a space crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot on Dec. 7, 1972. NASA said that preliminary reports indicate it went well.
NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.
Now committed to the moon, the Artemis II test flight is the opening act for NASA’s grand plans for a moon base and sustained lunar living.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will dash past the moon then hang a U-turn and zip straight home without stopping on land. In the process, they will become the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970. They also may become the fastest during their reentry at flight’s end on April 10.
Glover, Koch and Hansen already have made history as the first Black, the first woman and the first non-U.S. citizen to launch to the moon. Apollo’s 24 lunar travelers were all white men.
To set the mood for the day’s main event, Mission Control woke up the crew with John Legend’s “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000 and a medley of NASA teams cheering them.
“We are ready to go,” Glover said.
Mission Control gave the final go-ahead minutes before the critical engine firing, telling the astronauts that they were embarking on “humanity’s lunar homecoming arc” to bring them back to Earth.
Koch replied: “With this burn to the moon, we do not leave Earth. We choose it.”
The next major milestone will be Monday’s lunar flyby.
Orion will zoom 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beyond the moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side, at least for human eyes. The cosmos will even treat the Artemis II astronauts to a total solar eclipse as the moon temporarily blocks the sun from their perspective.
While awaiting their orbital departure earlier Thursday, the astronauts savored the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her old stomping ground.
“It is just absolutely phenomenal,” radioed Koch, who spent a year at an Antarctic research station before joining NASA.
NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028. Orion’s toilet may need some design tweaks before that happens.
The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned as soon as the Artemis crew reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Koch through some plumbing tricks and she finally got it going, but not before having to resort to using contingency urine storage bags.
Controllers also managed to bump up the cabin temperature. It was so cold earlier in the flight that the astronauts had to dig into their suitcases for long-sleeved clothes.
The contingency urine bags came in handy later in the day. Mission Control ordered the crew to fill a bunch of the empty bags with water from the capsule’s dispenser. A valve issue arose with the dispenser following liftoff, and NASA wanted plenty of drinking water on hand for the crew in case the problem worsened. The astronauts used straws and syringes to fill the pouches with more than 2 gallons (7 liters) worth before pivoting to the moon.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
In this photo provided by NASA, a view of the Earth from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, an Artemis program patch floating in the International Space Station's cupola, on March 30, 2026. (Jessica Meir/NASA via AP)
Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
