The Spanish Super Cup final in Jeddah last night was a spectacle to behold as both Barcelona and Real Madrid came out all guns blazing to lift the first trophy of the year.
Xabi Alonso’s side surprisingly started in a low-block, making Barcelona work hard for their attacking openings. The breakthrough eventually arrived through Raphinha and Barcelona dominated most of the first half after that.
The end of the first half, however, saw complete mayhem as Vinicius Jr scored a solo equaliser, Robert Lewandowski put Barcelona ahead and Gonzalo Garcia then levelled matters up once again – all in a matter of minutes.
Raphinha handed the Catalans the lead once more in the 73rd minute, setting up for a great finish. Real Madrid fought for the equaliser but could not capitalise.
Barça Universal bring you the player ratings from Barcelona 3-2 Real Madrid.
Joan Garcia: 7
While he did make some routine saves, the goalkeeper was stumped by Vinicius Jr’s solo effort and could not do much to prevent Real Madrid’s second equaliser either. His distribution, positioning, and ball-playing were elite as usual.
Alejandro Balde: 7
Balde pushed up high in attack and often did not have much trouble dealing with defensively given that Real Madrid seldom built up on his flank. However, he did not make many crosses into the box and did not seem to have that killer pass to set into the box.
Pau Cubarsi: 6.5
The youngster’s distribution was decent, but he should have done far better to deny Vinicius his opening goal on the night. Cubarsi went down far too easily and seemingly made himself smaller at the time of the shot.
Eric Garcia: 8
Garcia constantly looked to progress Barcelona’s buildup to higher areas and did largely well alongside Cubarsi. Was not as troubled as the youngster was, but he too should have marked his man better for the second goal conceded.
Was enormous at times with his blocks, especially in the second half when Real Madrid turned up the heat.
Jules Kounde: 6
The Frenchman struggled in dealing with Vinicius on the night, and every time the Brazilian got the ball, he seemed to have a head start over Kounde.
While his lack of pace was indeed an impediment, the player was dribbled past far too easily time and time again, especially in Vinicius’ goal that came late in the first half. A dreadful performance.
Frenkie de Jong: 7.5
De Jong started the game as a controlling presence in midfield, but he often slowed down Barcelona’s progression far too much.
The Dutchman stalled the buildup, played many horizontal passes, and never looked for the killer pass into space, removing the threat from the Catalans’ buildup. In terms of pure ball retention and distribution, however, he was decent.
Was sent off in the final minute of the game.
Pedri: 8
The Canary Islander played in a slightly more advanced role than De Jong and was everywhere on the field during the Catalans’ buildup. He was clinical with his distribution, worked hard off the ball, and always presented a passing outlet.
Earned the assist for Robert Lewandowski’s goal towards the end of the half with a wonderful pass between the centre-backs.
Fermin Lopez: 7.5
Fermin had an uncharacteristically quiet game – not in the sense that he was invisible but that he did not create any threat in the box.
The La Masia midfielder did well as the mediapunta, providing a passing outlet past Real Madrid’s low block and linking up well with Lamine Yamal. However, he could not get into goal-scoring positions as often as he would have liked to.
Lamine Yamal: 8.5
Yamal was very quiet in the opening stages of the game, struggling to get past Alvaro Carreras and seemingly lacking that decisiveness in attack.
He came to life after Raphinha’s opener, however, and began taking on the defenders with more confidence, even creating some clear-cut chances on his own.
Raphinha: 10
The Brazilian missed a relatively easy chance in the first half, but more than made up for it with a stunning golazo to get the better of Thibaut Courtois and open the scoring.
He worked hard off the ball, led the team from the front, and was clinical with his distribution – seemingly the team’s best player on the field by some distance.
Scored a second goal in the 70th minute with a wild strike that somehow ended up behind Thibaut Courtois.
Robert Lewandowski: 8
The Polish striker had a relatively quiet first half on the ball and primarily contributed with his movements and off-the-ball play. He did, however, score a great finish late in the half to hand Barcelona a short-lived 2-1 lead.
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