Real Madrid lifted the Supercopa de Espana for the second straight season, defeating Barcelona 4-1 in the finals at Al Awwal Stadium in Saudi Arabia. Vinicius Jr was the star of the night, scoring a first half hat-trick to blow their arch rivals out of the competition within the first 35 minutes. The Brazilian scored a quickfire brace with goals in the 7th and 10th minute, and then converted a penalty to complete his hat-trick.
Barcelona were able to pull one back after a thunderous strike from Robert Lewandowski at the edge of the penalty area. But it just wasn’t enough to turn things around after a sub-par opening performance from the team.
Real Madrid defend Supercopa de Espana title against Barcelona
Carlo Ancelotti has now matched Zinedine Zidane, who won 11 trophies during his time in charge of Real Madrid. The Italian recently extended his contract with Los Blancos until 2026, and marked it in the best way possible.
Rodrygo ended all hopes of a comeback in the second half, making it 4-1 in his team’s favour to guide them to a statement win. Ronald Araujo was later sent off, after a second yellow card for fouling Vinicius Jr again.
The Uruguayan has kept Vinicius quiet on several occasions in El Clasico, but Vini was a man possessed in the final. And he did remarkably well to trouble Araujo throughout the night and end up on the winning side.
Real Madrid were blazing fast on the counter attack, which was the main concern for Barcelona, who played a high line. And after a crushing defeat in Saudi Arabia, they will hope to turn things around in LaLiga and the Copa del Rey.
