- JEDDAH — FC Barcelona produced a stunning first-half display to beat Real
Madrid 5-2 in the final of the Spanish Supercup on Sunday.
Hansi Flick's side led 4-1 at the break and despite
seeing goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny sent off for bringing down Kylian Mbappe
early in the second half, they were able to hold on with relative ease against
the Madrid attack, reported Xinhua.
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- Things looked to be going Madrid's way when goalkeeper
Thibaut Courtois pulled off two stunning saves in the opening minutes from
Lamine Yamal and Raphinha before Mbappe put Madrid ahead in the fifth minute.
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- A Barca attack broke down with Vinicius feeding the ball
to the Frenchman, who produced a powerful run from deep, held off the defender
and scored with his right foot.
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- Barca continued to create chances, with Raphinha shooting
across the face of the goal before Yamal equalized in the 22nd minute.
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- Robert Lewandowski dropped deep and pulled Antonio
Rudiger out of position to create space for the young winger to run onto his
pass. Yamal then turned inside and wrong-footed Courtois with an angled shot.
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- Barca suffered an injury setback when Inigo Martinez had
to be replaced by Ronald Araujo, but they took the lead after 36 minutes when
Eduardo Camavinga's rash challenge on Gavi gifted Barca a penalty, which
Lewandowski dispatched into the corner.
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- Three minutes later, it was 3-1 as Real Madrid's defense
gave Jules Kounde space to angle a cross for Raphinha to head home after the
Brazilian stole in completely unmarked past Lucas Vazquez.
-
- There were nine minutes of injury time and in the last
action of the first half, Madrid made a horrible mess of a short corner, allowing
Yamal to steal possession. He slid the ball to the onrushing Raphinha, who in
turn passed to Alejandro Balde to beat Courtois with a low shot.
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- With his side 4-1 down, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti
brought on midfielder Dani Ceballos for Camavinga.
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- Real Madrid went close in the 47th minute when Rodrygo
saw his volley hit the post.
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- But it was Barcelona's night and that was clear one
minute later when Raphinha made it 5-1 with a calm finish.
