Athletic Club has been the surprise package of this tournament. They had already eliminated Real Madrid in the semi-finals and were hoping to continue their stunning form into the finals.
Barcelona were also slowly finding their form back and felt that the final is up for grabs to win as Real Madrid, their strongest opponent had already been eliminated.
But Athletic has come out with yet another surprise as they have now stunned Barcelona in the final and won it by a scoreline of 3-2 after playing extra time.
The highlight of the match was Barcelona captain Lionel Messi receiving a red card deep into extra time. Messi slapped Asier Villalibre in the 120th minute of the game, and VAR checked the incident and gave him a marching order.
This is the first time in his whole Barcelona career that Messi has received a red card. The previous two instances were with his national team, Argentina. His first came two minutes into his debut with Argentina in 2005 against Hungary, and the second came recently against Chile in 2019.
Antoine Griezmann scored twice for Barcelona and gave them a lead, but Athletic responded pretty well each time. After the first Barcelona goal, Oscar De Marcos scored the equaliser, but the most dramatic goal came in the 90th minute when Asier Villalibre scored to make it 2-2 and force extra time.
The star of the show for Athletic Club was Inaki Williams as he scored the winner in the extra time. He curled a stunning strike straight into the top corner which was enough for Athletic to win the Spanish Super Cup title.
Most Supercopa de Espana titles in history 🏆 pic.twitter.com/APnTimOzDp
— Goal India (@Goal_India) January 18, 2021
Barcelona are the record 13-time winners of the Spanish Super Cup but this time they failed to win against a high-flying Athletic Club. Athletic has now defeated two of the biggest Spanish teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, in two consecutive games.
Almost no one gave Athletic Club a chance of winning the cup. It was always about Real Madrid and Barcelona and many were also hoping to see an El Clasico in the final. But Athletic Club were excellent and deserved the win for the kind of confidence and determination they showed on the field. This is their 3rd Spanish Super Cup win in history.
