Barcelona claimed their first trophy of the season on Sunday night, romping to a 5-2 victory against their fiercest rivals Real Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana final.
A scarcely believable first half was bookended by blistering breakaways from both sides. Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe broke the deadlock with a sumptuous individual goal after just five minutes. Yet, by the time Alejandro Balde completed a forward thrust in the last of ten added minutes to the first half, Barcelona led 4-1.
Lamine Yamal's precise poke into the far corner after 22 minutes cancelled out Mbappe's early opener. Robert Lewandowski fired Barcelona in front with a penalty in the 36th minute shortly before Raphinha headed the Catalans into a 3-1 lead.
The Brazilian needed just three second-half minutes to nab Barcelona's fifth of an evening to savour. Bursting behind Madrid's reshuffled backline, Raphinha had already beaten Aurelien Tchouameni but found time to chop past the makeshift centre-back for the fun of it before picking out the bottom corner.
Madrid, as they have so often proved, would not go gentle into that good night. Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off for a mistimed lunge on Mbappe shortly before the hour-mark. From that very free-kick, Rodrygo found the top corner to reduce the deficit to 2-5.
Barcelona's ten men clung on to their advantage, holding out to lift the first title of Hansi Flick's tenure while Madrid were left to lick their wounds.
Real Madrid player ratings (4-2-3-1)
Player | Rating |
|---|---|
GK: Thibaut Courtois | 5.5/10 |
RB: Lucas Vazquez | 5.2/10 |
CB: Aurelien Tchouameni | 5.0/10 |
CB: Antonio Rudiger | 5.0/10 |
LB: Ferland Mendy | 5.0/10 |
CM: Fede Valverde | 5.8/10 |
CM: Eduardo Camavinga | 4.8/10 |
AM: Jude Bellingham | 7.1/10 |
RW: Rodrygo | 8.2/10 |
ST: Kylian Mbappe | 8.3/10 |
LW: Vinicius Junior | 7.4/10 |
SUB: Dani Ceballos (46' for Camavinga) | 6.2/10 |
SUB: Raul Asencio (52' for Vazquez) | 7.1/10 |
SUB: Luka Modric (64' for Tchouameni) | 6.7/10 |
SUB: Fran Garcia (75' for Mendy) | 6.6/10 |
SUB: Brahim Diaz (76' for Vinicius) | 5.9/10 |
Subs not used: Andriy Lunin (GK), Fran Gonzalez (GK), David Alaba, Lorenzo Aguado, Arda Guler, Endrick
Barcelona player ratings (4-2-3-1)
Player | Rating |
|---|---|
GK: Wojciech Szczesny | 5.5/10 |
RB: Jules Kounde | 7.6/10 |
CB: Pau Cubarsi | 6.1/10 |
CB: Inigo Martinez | 6.1/10 |
LB: Alejandro Balde | 7.9/10 |
CM: Marc Casado | 6.6/10 |
CM: Pedri | 7.4/10 |
AM: Gavi | 7.1/10 |
RW: Lamine Yamal | 8.3/10 |
ST: Robert Lewandowski | 8.5/10 |
LW: Raphinha | 9.4/10 |
SUB: Ronald Araujo (28' Martinez) | 6.3/10 |
SUB: Inaki Pena (59' for Gavi) | 7.0/10 |
SUB: Dani Olmo (59' for Yamal) | 6.9/10 |
SUB: Ferran Torres (79' for Raphinha) | 6.1/10 |
Subs not used: Ander Astralaga (GK), Eric Garcia, Gerard Martin, Hector Fort, Fermin Lopez, Frenkie de Jong, Pau Victor.
Player of the match - Raphinha (Barcelona)
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