Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup 3-1 against arch-rivals Real Madrid in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, with to goals from Gavi, Robert Lewandowski, and Pedri. Barcelona, who awarded Xavi his first championship as a Catalan club coach, was superior in every area of the game and took advantage of three Real Madrid errors to score.
Barcelona Lifts the Trophy over Real Madrid
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Carlo Ancelotti noted after the game for the second time in a row that his squad was not firing on all cylinders – a view he expressed after a shootout triumph over Valencia in the quarterfinals – after being outperformed in all stages by Barcelona. “We must learn from this. It’s a tough time “According to Ancelotti. “We knew the team wasn’t at its best going into this game. This game has highlighted certain flaws that we need to address. We will return.
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It’s a setback, but we’ll regroup for the next game. The game began evenly, with no rhythm, but once they scored first, they gained confidence. We gave them the first two goals for free. [We must] work and reflect on our errors. We were better on defense in the [semifinal] against Valencia, but we made errors again today. That is something we must work on.” Xavi surprised everyone by playing an extra man in midfield with just Lewandowski up forward, while center-back Ronald Araujo was played at right-back to attempt to shut down Real Madrid’s electric winger Vinicius Junior.
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Vinicius was rather invisible, but playing Gavi down the left channel paid off, as the youngster scored the game’s first goal and added two assists. Real defender Antonio Rudiger passed over his own area to Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, who started a play that culminated with Gavi all alone inside the box to score with a crisp left-foot effort in the 33rd minute. We bolstered the midfield in order to take over that area, and Araujo was outstanding in halting Vinicius’ counters.
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We felt quite comfortable leaving them with no choices “Busquets said after the victory, We felt it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We are going through a period of transition at the club and in the dressing room, and this victory will give us the confidence to contend for additional trophies in the future.” On the counter 12 minutes later, Frenkie de Jong found Gavi, who ghosted in behind Real’s defensive line before placing it on a dish for the Poland striker, who tapped it into the empty goal.
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Real Madrid, who had no attempts on goal in the first half, spent most of the second fighting to prevent a larger loss. Nonetheless, a costly error enabled Barcelona to score once again. Gavi surged forward and crossed for Pedri to strike point-blank into an empty goal after substitute Dani Ceballos fumbled the ball in midfield. Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scored a late consolation goal, smashing home on the rebound after Marc-Andre ter Stegen rejected his first effort.
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