Barcelona beat rivals Real Madrid 5-2 in a thrilling Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to win their first trophy of the Hansi Flick era.
Dynamic Kylian Mbappe gave Real Madrid the lead but dominant Barcelona responded with five goals before goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was denied in the second half Sent off.
Real Madrid had hoped to be beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in October’s La Liga El Clasico, but instead were beaten black and blue by their old rivals in Jeddah.
After Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring, Lamine Yamal equalized, Robert Lewandowski gave Barcelona the lead from the penalty spot, Rafinha scored twice and Alejandro Balde also scored .
Rodrigo Gos equalized from a free-kick but Real Madrid failed to further capitalize on their numerical advantage and the European champions suffered a heavy defeat.
Both Flick and his counterpart Carlo Ancelotti chose to maintain the starting lineup from the semi-finals.
Yamal’s curling ball from the right gave Real Madrid an early warning, forcing Courtois to make a brilliant save.
The Belgian goalkeeper also produced a powerful block to deny Raphinha’s header after the Brazilian easily evaded Lucas Vazquez.
Although Barcelona launched a fierce attack at the beginning, Real Madrid took the lead in the 5th minute with Mbappe’s brilliant goal on the counterattack.
The France striker, who was frustrated by multiple offside flags in the league defeat to Catalonia, broke on the midfield line after Vinicius regained the ball and sprinted into the box past Szczes Ni.
Yamal, 17, equalized with a stunning individual goal, the Spanish winger cutting in from the right before firing low inside the near post.
When It Happened | Real Madrid vs Barcelona Spanish Super Cup Final Highlights
Inigo Martinez went off injured and Flick sent Ronald Araujo in his place, with the Uruguayan defender looking to leave the club amid transfer rumors.
Brilliant Barcelona
Barcelona pressed on and took the lead through Lewandowski’s penalty after Eduardo Camavinga arrived late and accidentally bumped into Garvey.
Raphinha quickly headed in a cross from Jules Kounde to score Barcelona’s third goal and then added the fourth just before half-time.
Yamal and Raphinha combined, with the latter sliding in for Balde, who broke past Courtois.
Barcelona continued in the same vein after the break, with Rafinha adding a fine dribble to score the fifth goal after Marc Casado had fed him in.
The Catalans were reduced to 10 men when Mbappe accelerated at the other end and rounded goalkeeper Szczesny, who brought him down just outside the box and was cleared under VAR review. After rejection.
Rodrygo hit the post earlier when his free-kick went past Szczesny’s substitute Inaki Pena.
Mbappe defended Jude Bellingham brilliantly but the England international was denied by a fine challenge from Cude in stoppage time.
The French striker also came close to scoring again with an outstanding individual performance, but Pena turned his effort into nothing.
Barcelona brought in midfielder Dani Olmo for his first appearance since registering for the club on a provisional basis, a controversial issue that cast a pall over the semi-finals earlier this week.
However, the five-star performance also became the focus of many other conversations as Barca won a record 15th Spanish Super Cup.
