Thanks to a hat-trick from Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid lifted the Spanish Supercup after a masterful 4-1 victory over Barça. Much stronger than their historic rivals, the Madrilenians win their first trophy in 2024.
Xavi Hernandez looked a little discouraged as he shook hands with Carlo Ancelotti. The final whistle had just sounded, but victory had long since been secured for Real Madrid. Above and beyond this crushing defeat, the Azulgrana coach realized one thing above all: if FC Barcelona are ever to beat the White House, they will have to go back to their studies, because in this Spanish Supercup final, it was a lesson given by a master to his pupil.
Vinicius, the man of the match
In Saudi Arabia, this clash of the Spanish titans was initially marked by whistles from a crowd resentful of Toni Kroos. After this anecdotal episode, the Clásico took the lead with Barça incisive, in the image of Pedri (5th), but not killer enough. Just the opposite of Real, in fact, as Vinicius took advantage of Jude Bellingham’s opener to dribble past Iñaki Peña before opening the scoring in the empty net (7th, 1-0). Already in pain, Barcelona’s defense found itself in agony after another supersonic burst of acceleration from Madrid, and Rodrygo served up his Brazilian compatriot in the right tempo for an express double (10th, 2-0).
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By way of response, the Blaugrana team stammered their soccer. With little danger, the Catalans made their mark via Ferran Torres, but Andrey Lunin denied them access to the goal (28th). Faced with the Ukrainian keeper, Barça put their main attacking weapon in Robert Lewandowski. Lewy latched onto an aerial ball on the edge of the area and volleyed home to reduce the deficit (33rd, 2-1). But just as Barcelona were finally coming into their own, Ronald Araujo had the bad idea of clipping the unstoppable Vinicius and conceding a penalty. The confident No.10 slammed home his hat-trick without a moment’s hesitation (39th, 3-1). Despite Pedri’s last gasp effort (45th+4), Real were in control at the break.
Without really believing it, Barça returned to the pitch to try and change the course of events. But in reality, Real were running the ball at the same time as Barça, who were frankly worrying collectively. Slowly but surely, Los Blancos’ victory turned into a humiliation on world television. Jules Koundé’s clumsy delivery of Vinicius’s cross straight to Rodrygo set up Real’s fourth (64th, 4-1). Araujo left his team-mates prematurely for a second yellow card following another foul on Vinicius (71st). Outnumbered for over 20 minutes and far too nervous, Barcelona lost to a much superior opponent.