In the end, it was too much even for Real Madrid to turn around. Barcelona clinched the Supercopa de Espana final with a 5-2 win over their formidable opponents in a crazy game on Sunday night.
Similar to the last Clasico in October, Barcelona scored four goals in one half. Hansi Flick’s disbanded Catalans gathered that quartet before the half-time whistle in the exhibition game in Saudi Arabia, but Real Madrid did not go down without a fight.
Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring before Barcelona struck and forced a dismissal from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny on the hour mark. Rodrygo reduced the deficit to three goals, but Barcelona held on to win the trophy, which, however briefly, will distract attention. controversy that surrounded the club late.
How the match unfolded
Barcelona was warned. “Madrid is one of the best teams in the world in transition,” emphasized Flick before the start of the match.
Kylian Mbappe it took less than five minutes for him to live up to the Barcelona manager’s fears, leading a full-court counter-attack that started from a corner that Real Madrid had initially defended. Vinicius Junior robbed Marco Casado on the edge of his own team’s penalty area and sent Mbappe away. The Frenchman did everything but leave scorched marks on the turf as he raced forward, turning Alejandro Balde inside out before slotting in behind Szczesny.
Despite the early concession, Barcelona he would not be deterred, takes control of possession and chases the ball after every loose ball. Lamine Yamal, so often a source of inspiration for the Catalans in attack, teased Flick’s side level with an incredibly delicate finish. Tiptoeing upfield from the right wing, Barcelona’s teenage sensation baffled Thibaut Courtois with a classy shot that curled into the bottom corner.
It plays in the background of a constant low hum from the majority Real Madrid– the inflated audience in Saudi Arabia was heard protesting when the referee pointed to a penalty in the 36th minute. After a sideline review, Jesus Gil Manzano agreed that Eduardo Camavinga’s leg was enough to bring Gavi down. Robert Lewandowski made no mistake from 12 meters.
Raphinha doubled Barcelona’s lead within three minutes from the spot. The Brazilian wandered into the gaping chasm that existed inside Madrid’s makeshift back line, curling a powerful header beyond Courtois to make it 3-1.
The epic in the first half stretched to an hour because nine minutes of stoppage time were included. With the last kick of the endless half, Madrid scored a short kick from Yamal’s corner. The winger denied fellow goalscorer Raphinha in a dizzying counter-attack that Alejandro Balde, breaking forward from left-back, finished with a deft shot into the bottom corner.
Carlo Ancelotti tried to stem the bleeding by bringing on Dani Ceballos at half-time, but the controlling Spaniard was helpless as Raphinha added Barcelona’s fifth within three minutes of resumption.
Just when Flick’s side seemed to be circling towards another Clasico defeat, their own flaws were exposed. Mbappe made his way behind that infamously high back line and chipped the ball away from Szczesny. Barcelona’s backup keeper chopped down the Frenchman and was dismissed after a VAR review. Rodrygo struck the resulting free-kick into the top corner, ensuring that Inaki Pena’s first job as substitute goalkeeper was to get the ball out of his net.
The pace of the contest, which was not so much ebb and flow as it was violently collapsing from one end of the pitch to the other, began to slow down late in the final 20 minutes. Barcelona’s ten men reluctantly dropped even deeper, frustrating a depleted Madrid side with five goals either side of half-time.
See Real Madrid 2-5 Barcelona player ratings here.
The line – Saudi Arabia’s grand conception of one city stretching 170km – could have been built entirely in the space between Aurelien Tchouameni and Lucas Vazquez when Barcelona scored their third goal of the evening.
For all the glitz and glamor of Real Madrid’s attack, Raphinha’s free header was a stark reminder that half of the team’s backline on Sunday night consisted of a defensive midfielder alongside an aging winger.
Tchouameni appeared to be pulling an invisible caravan when he tried to chase down Raphinh at the start of the second half, but the Barcelona vice-captain went nowhere to immediately make it 5-1. In the break that followed, Ancelotti replaced Vazquez with Raul Asencio – a youngster making his Clasico debut but at least familiar with the demands of playing in a back four.
Ancelotti is the driving force of Madrid push for defensive recruits in January, while the club intends to save for summer fun. The Italians’ urgency will not be quelled by a disastrous defensive display.
Raphinha sat out last year’s Super Cup final against Real Madrid, watching his team-mates go down 4-1 as he suffered one of the many serious injuries that have plagued his Barcelona career. Fast forward 12 months and there was no way the Brazilian was going to miss Sunday’s highlight.
In a game that featured four players who ended up in the the best eight at the Ballon d’Or 2024Raphinha – a player who was not even nominated for the prestigious individual award – outshone everyone else on the field.
Blessed with a reservoir that never runs dry and a mind as sharp as his nimble pace, the rejuvenated Barcelona vice-captain is enjoying the campaign of his career. Two goals and an assist in Sunday’s final took him to 30 goals in 27 appearances this season.
Mbappe is set as mockery the first Classic of the season. The goalless striker not only failed to find the back of the net, but was caught offside a record eight times. He only forced the auxiliary flag once on Sunday.
The Frenchman, who opened the scoring with a ruthless finish that had deserted him for much of the first half of the season, was initially ruled offside when Szczesny brought him down after the break. However, upon review, the semi-automated technology vindicated Mbappe and led to an early shower for Barcelona’s third-choice goalkeeper.
Even in second-half stoppage time, with Vinicius watching from the bench and Ancelotti retiring his number nine for the full 90, Mbappe deftly got past a patch of blue and red before teeing up wayward Bellingham in the box.
While the overall result is a negative that can never be ignored, Mbappe can take many positives from his own display.
Barcelona may have been the team that lifted the giant Super Cup trophy into the Jeddah night air, but it was Atletico Madrid who emerged as the real winners this weekend.
Sunday’s final was so engrossing largely because both sides have defensive flaws – Barcelona included. Madrid may have conceded five goals, but the Catalans produced more shots – most of which came when they were equal in numbers.
Diego Simeone’s men watched the chaos unfold after getting past Osasuna on home duty. That narrow 1-0 win marked a 14th straight victory – a new club record – and took Atletico to Top of La Liga.
Simeone’s capital side are just one point behind their city rivals – Barcelona are six points adrift in third place with all three teams having played 19 games – but Atletico boast the best defensive record of any club in Europe’s top five leagues, and let alone Spain.
READ THE LATEST NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MATCH REACTIONS
