3 hours ago
7
Football is wild sometimes, and this was one of those times. A night that didn’t always make sense but was a lot of fun ended with every player on the pitch inside the Barcelona penalty area and the ball dropping through the crowd to Raúl Asencio, standing there on the edge of the six yard box. The board had gone up with six minutes on it, those six minutes had passed and now here it was, his moment and another twist: the chance to somehow take the Super Cup final to a penalty shootout.
Instead, with the clock on 96.43 Asencio headed at Joan García. On his line, the goalkeeper grabbed the shot and held on hard; his team had done the same, two goals from Raphinha and another from Robert Lewandowski enough to take the trophy, goals from Vinícius Júnior and Gonzalo García not enough to take it from them. Whether they will be enough to keep Xabi Alonso in his job remains to be seem; Jeddah was supposed to be the final judgment but there may be those that judge Madrid’s reaction here reason for him to remain.
It was reason for Barcelona to celebrate, certainly. And yet as the whistle went, Pedri couldn’t even join his teammates in leaping about, cramp seeing him crash to the floor instead. It had been that kind of evening, defying easy analysis, everyone exhausted. Barcelona might wonder how they had been on edge in the first place, so dominant had they seemed in moments, but then this is Madrid and this is the game that never lets you down. Now, though, they had made it to the other side, lifting the first, and least significant trophy of the season.
For the first half an hour, this wasn’t much of a clásico, but then it was a classic. Chaotic at times, a little illogical too, but dramatic. It was during that spell when there were four goals in 15 minutes at the end of the first half, certainly. All the more so in the madness of three in four. Twice Barcelona took the lead, twice Madrid levelled. The third time, there was no way back. They tried, though. Vinícius in particular was superb; for Barcelona, Raphinha and Pedri were fantastic.
Adopting an unexpected formation somewhere between a 4-4-1-1 and a 5-3-2, Madrid’s plan had been clear – to protect themselves, releasing Vinícius where possible – and by the time they reached the water break, they could be entitled to think it was working reasonably well. Barcelona had 79% of the possession at that point, but the best opportunity had come to Vinícius, sprinting away on the left to be denied by Joan García and on a hot, humid night in Arabia Barcelona had not been able to move the ball with the speed or incision to really open Madrid up.
In short, not very much had happened, although Thibaut Courtois had just pushed away a Raphinha shot. And then, suddenly, it all did. The teams returned from the touchline and a game that appeared to have a clear pattern, two teams playing contrasting roles, went wild. There were three chances inside three minutes, and then the opening goal. First Gonzalo García got beyond Pau Cubarsí, one on one with Joan García, but could not get enough on the shot to beat the keeper. Next Pedri pulled back for Fermín López, whose shot flew over. Then an outrageous pass from Lamine Yamal put Raphinha in, only for him to miss-hit his shot, first time past the post.
Those were minutes 32, 33, and 34. Now, on 35, Raphinha was there again. Fermín’s ball found him and, with Aurélien Tchouaméni backing off, Barcelona three against two, the Brazilian dropped a shoulder and guided the shot into the corner. No sooner had they kicked off than Lamine Yamal was running at them again. That time, he was slowed; the next time he could only be stopped by Courtois’s save at the near post.
In truth, this felt like it was going only one way now: Barcelona had the lead and the ball and Madrid were miles away from both. A frustration was creeping in, the men in white arriving late to almost every ball; olés soon went round. For a while it had look like the kind of performance that might see a manager’s head roll, but Madrid rebelled. The half reached its final minute, time up, and then it exploded. Time, it turned out, for so much more.
Another Barcelona attack broke down on the final ball into Lewandowski, Tchouaméni got a foot to it, Gonzalo García controlled, turned and went left to Vinicius. The Brazilian set off from the half-way line, flew up the wing, came inside, through the legs of Jules Koundé, stepped away from Cubarsi and finished superbly. This was some way to end the half, someway to end a 16-game goalless run too. Only, it wasn’t over. Almost immediately, Raphinha found Pedri who slotted through to Lewandowski. The first touch was actually a little heavy, the ball almost escaping him; the second was impeccable, dinked over Courtois and into the net.
Madrid complained that the three minutes added had expired but in footballing terms, it seemed that some kind of justice had been done. But what’s justice compared to enjoyment? This wasn’t done and, anyway, a little extra time was not a bad thing for Alonso’s side – or those here for the fun of it. As the clock reached 50, Madrid were level when an exceptional Dean Huijsen header was somehow half-stopped on the line by Raphinha, who headed against the bar. The ball came down to García, who, falling, managed to turn it back into the net off the frame of the goal. The game that never lets you down was doing it again.
Calm returned for a little while but not long. There was a confrontation whenAsencio gave the escaping Pedri a whack and the game became a bit broken. In the midst of it all, Vinícius remained the greatest threat, Barcelona concerned every time he ran at them. Joan García had to stop him twice in a minute: the first time with a sharp, low save; the second tipping over a deflected shot. He also had to make a save from Rodrygo, who probably should have scored from close range.
Barcelona again started to take hold of the ball, but were struggling to play the decisive pass. Tchouaméni, superb, was alert to the danger, repeatedly stepping across to cut out the diagonal ball into space. Opportunity did come to Lamine Yamal on the edge of the six-yard box, Courtois standing firm, palms out to block from point blank range. And then, just as this place roared to see Kylian Mbappé make his way to the touchline, Barcelona got the lead. This time it was fortunate, Raphinha slipping as he struck it, the ball hitting Asencio and lifting into the net.
This time they would not let go. Mbappé came on with even more urgent mission now but it was not to be. Barcelona took control, the olés reappearing, Madrid chasing shadow. And although Marcus Rashford, racing away, was unable to end it, and Frenkie de Jong was sent off in added time when Madrid’s last chances fell on 95 and 96 minutes, they came to Álvaro Carreras first and Asencio next. Playing his first clásico, García held both and by the end of the night he held the Super Cup too.
