This week, Saudi Arabia will host the 41st edition of the Spanish Super Cup. The first semi-final will see Athletic Club, the reigning Copa del Rey champions, face 2023/24 LaLiga runners-up Barcelona - a repeat of the 2021 final which the Basques won in extra-time.

The other semi-final between LaLiga champions Real Madrid and Copa del Rey runners-up Mallorca, will be played on Thursday. Both games will be played at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, kicking off at 22:00 hours local time AST (2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT).

Madrid and Barcelona dominate Super Cup honors

Madrid and Barcelona, who have a combined 27 Supercopa titles between them, start out as the favorites.

The two archrivals have contested the final a total of nine times - including last year’s, which Madrid won 4-1. Of the 38 editions, only three didn’t feature either Madrid or Barça: 2000-01 (Deportivo 2-0 Espanyol), 2002-03 (Deportivo 4-0 Valencia) and 2004-05 (Zaragoza 3-2 Valencia)

During the last 19 editions, at least one of the two teams has played in the final, winning 15 of these 19 finals (nine for the Blaugranas and six for Los Blancos), with the remaining ones won by Athletic (two), Sevilla and Atlético.

Two decades have passed since the last time neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona appeared in the final.

We have to go back to the 2004-05 season, when league champions Valencia face Copa winners Zaragoza.

The final was played over two legs, with the first at La Romareda. Valencia, under new coach Claudio Ranieri won the first leg 0-1, thanks to a Vicente strike.

However, the Maños retaliated in the return. Víctor Muñoz’s team won 1-3 at Mestalla. Álvaro and Galletti gave them a two-goal lead. Corradi pulled one back but Javi Moreno struck to make it 1-3 seven minutes from time.