El Clasico: 10-men Barcelona thrash Real Madrid 5-2 to win Spanish Super Cup

Barcelona came from an early goal down to beat Real Madrid 5-2 in a thrilling Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday, January 12.

Playing at Jeddah, Barcelona secured their 15th title in the competition’s history. Despite being reduced to 10 men following a red card for goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 56th minute, Barcelona won the match owing to their stunning first-half performance. This was Barcelona’s first silverware in over a year.

Real Madrid made a dream start when Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring in the fifth minute, finishing a solo run with a powerful shot inside the far post. However, Barcelona responded quickly, levelling the score through Lamine Yamal in the 22nd minute. Yamal’s sensational run from the right side saw the youngster cut back and calmly slot the ball past Thibaut Courtois’ left side.

Robert Lewandowski then gave Barcelona the lead in the 36th minute, converting a penalty after Eduardo Camavinga fouled Gavi in the box. The Catalan side extended their advantage just minutes later with a brilliant header from Raphinha in the 39th minute, thanks to a perfect cross by Jules Koundé. Alejandro Balde added a fourth in stoppage time, finishing after a poor Real Madrid corner, making it 4-1 at the break.

Real Madrid started the second half with renewed hope when Rodrygo struck the crossbar early on, but Barcelona swiftly extinguished any chance of a comeback. Raphinha made it 5-1 in the 48th minute, slaloming through the Real defence before calmly finishing.

The match took another twist in the 56th minute when Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off for fouling Mbappé in the box. Rodrygo scored from the resulting free kick to pull one back for Real Madrid, but Barcelona’s defense, led by substitute keeper Inaki Peña, stood firm to seal a 5-2 victory.

Barcelona’s win ended Real Madrid’s hopes of winning their third title of the season, following their triumphs in the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. The result also marked a significant achievement for Barcelona, who had not won a trophy since last season.

After the game, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said: “A goal for big clubs is always to win titles, that’s why we work hard. But now we have to show it in the next games. Real Madrid made many mistakes, and we knew how to take advantage of them to control the match.”

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, on the other hand, expressed disappointment with his team’s performance: “In the first half we didn’t play football, we hit long balls and that wasn’t the idea. I told the players that they can lose games, but not in the way we played in the first half.”