Real Madrid vs Barcelona 2-5: Supercopa final
Sunday, January 12, at the King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Barça have won this title 14 times. That’s more than any club. However, the all-whites are right behind them with 13 wins. So, should Barça win on Sunday, they’ll extend their record even further, while defeat would leave the two clubs neck-and-neck at the top of the all-time table.
Recent results between these teams are testimony of just how utterly unpredictable El Clásico can be. As is only to be expected, there have been some excruciatingly tight encounters, but on a curiously large number of occasions, one side or other has run away with big wins. Last October, Barça utterly crushed Madrid in the league at the Bernabeu, but that ended a run of four consecutive wins for the all-whites, who twice racked up four goals.
One of those games was the Super Cup Final two years ago, where Madrid were comfortable 4-1 winners. Yet just 12 months earlier, Barça had been by far the superior side, the eventual 3-1 outcome not reflecting how totally smothered Madrid were that day.
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick spoke with Barca One after the match: “I am very happy to have won our first title with Barca [Barcelona]. We have worked very well. Today, I can only congratulate the team. We defended and attacked together.
“I feel very proud of the players, the club and the fans. It was a great game. We responded well to Real Madrid’s first goal and then continued to play very well.
“When Szczesny was sent off, it wasn’t easy. What I’m most proud of is the way we defended. I’m very happy with many things, but especially with this one.
“The way we played is important. Today we made mistakes and that’s what we have to reduce. When you have the ball, everything is easier.”
“The goal of the big clubs is to win titles, and that is why we work hard. Now we must show, in every game, how good we are. It’s not easy to play with 10 men against Real Madrid. We have two great goalkeepers.”
Next up for Spanish football will be the Champions League. On the next matchday, Movistar Plus+ will present the fixture between Atlético de Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen on January 21st at 21:00 CET.
