FC Barcelona, driven by an impressive Gavi, won the Spanish Super Cup this Sunday by beating Real Madrid 3-1 in the final played at the King Fahd stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The goals from Gavi (33), Robert Lewandowski (45) and Pedri (69), barely tarnished by Karim Benzema (90+3), gave Barça its fourteenth Super Cup, the first since this trophy began to be played in the form of a tournament to four three years ago.
“It was an opportunity that we had to take. This will reinforce us to maintain the idea and continue competing and win more titles or compete for them”, the Barca captain, Sergio Busquets, told Movistar+ after the game.
Barça, who lifted a trophy for the first time since they won the Copa del Rey in 2021, ended up imposing their control of the ball against a Real Madrid who found no solutions.
The meringues improved in the second half, but insufficiently to turn around a game in which they found themselves completely outclassed by the Catalans.
The Barça team warned with a low shot from Lewandowski that Thibaut Courtois took with the help of the post (13), to which Karim Benzema responded with a header that went wide (18).
Barça arrived in better condition, moving the ball from one side to the other, while Real Madrid was imprecise, unable to connect with Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, who would end up being substituted in the second half with hardly any influence.
An error in the release of the ball by Real Madrid ended with Lewandowski filtering a pass for the arrival of Gavi, who opened the scoring with a cross shot (33).
Barça found the prize for its dominance against Real Madrid, in which Benzema, who was barely able to work his magic, was forced to go down to try to help in the construction and Vinicius suffered in his duels with Ronald Araújo, who practically won all battles with the brazilian.
On the edge of the break, in a new error by Real, Frenkie de Jong put a deep ball to Gavi, who put a ball to the right finished off only before Courtois by Lewandowski to make it 2-0 (45).
After the break, Real Madrid went to put pressure on the start of Barça, who continued to maintain control of the match, although they began to suffer more from their rival’s counterattacks.
The Barça team was able to expand their account with an arrival from Dembélé, but his shot was kicked out by Courtois, once again becoming a hero of his team, which he supported.
The Belgian managed to cover a new shot by Lewandowski that was planted only before the Merengue goalkeeper (54).
Real Madrid tried to put pressure man by man, but when they seemed to be putting their rival in trouble, arriving with a little more clarity, Barça saw the door again.
A steal by Gavi ended with the Barcelona player entering from the left to put a ball to the other side for Pedri, who made it 3-0 (69).
Gavi was the most dominating man on his team this Sunday at the packed King Fahd Stadium.
The goal practically sentenced the match, although Real Madrid continued looking for the goal against a Barcelona that did not close behind and continued to press up.
Marco Asensio, who had come on for Kroos (71), took a long shot that forced Ter Stegen (74) to stretch, who came back to save a shot from Rodrygo (79).
Benzema would end up perforating the goal in discount (90+3), but only to make up the victory for Xavi Hernández’s team, who won his first title as a Barça coach. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
