Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo (right) and Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior vie for the ball in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 12, 2022. Photo: VCG

Federico Valverde finished off a stunning move in extra time to give Real Madrid a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Barcelona in an exhilarating Spanish Super Cup semifinal on Wednesday.

Real advanced to Sunday's final against the winners between holders Athletic Bilbao and La Liga champions Atletico Madrid in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

Vinicius Jr opened the scoring for Real from a counterattack early in the first half, but Luuk de Jong equalized shortly before halftime following a mistake by Real defender Eder Militao.

Karim Benzema put Real back in front 25 minutes into the second half, striking home on the rebound from inside the area, but a header by substitute Ansu Fati, who was making his first appearance since November, took the game into extra time.

Real claimed the winner from another counterattack, with Rodrygo firing a low cross to the edge of the area. Vinicius dummied to shoot, which eliminated the entire Barca defence and left Valverde all alone to tap the ball into an empty net.

Real Madrid were huge favorites entering the match, but struggling Barcelona gave the LaLiga leaders a tough game.

The King Fahd Stadium was supposed to be at 50 percent capacity due to COVID-19 concerns, but it looked almost full of excited fans thrilled to witness the first "Clasico" played outside of Spain.

Real Madrid sat back patiently and tried to set up counterattacks for Vinicius and Benzema, but they allowed Barca to get too close to their area.

Xavi Hernandez's much improved team dominated the second half and extra time, and Ousmane Dembele was a constant threat down the left for a Real defense missing David Alaba who was injured in the warm-up.

Xavi said his young team could leave with their "heads held high." 

But Xavi's side were far from outclassed and instead showed why there is great hope at the club for the future.

"It was clear that it was a day when we showed courage and took responsibility with the ball. Today was a day to go out with your head held high despite the defeat," said Xavi afterwards.

"We were superior to Madrid in many moments," he added.

"It's two different feelings," said Xavi. "A very bad feeling of defeat but on the other hand we can feel very proud of the game. We need a little more patience."

Defender Gerard Pique said Barcelona are getting closer to being a team that can challenge for trophies again. 

"I think playing like this we are going to start winning and start competing for lots of titles," Pique said.