Barcelona player Robert Lewandowski scored a goal and had an assist, and the team’s goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny was shown a red card in the exciting Spanish Super Cup final in Jeddah, where the ‘Pride of Catalonia’ defeated Real Madrid 5-2 and won the 100th trophy in history.
Lewandowski assisted Lamine Yamala’s 1-1 equalizing goal (22nd), and he got on the scoresheet less than a quarter of an hour later, converting a penalty kick (36th). Earlier, French Kylian Mbappe (5th) gave the “Royal” the lead.
Later, Barcelona scored more goals, leading 5-1 at the beginning of the second half after two goals by Brazilian Raphinha (39th and 48th) and one by Alejandro Balde (45+10).
In the 57th minute, Szczęsny illegally stopped the charging Frenchman Kylian Mbappe from entering the penalty area and was sent off for this. His place was taken by Inaki Pena, who was defeated by Brazilian Rodrygo directly from a free kick awarded for a foul by the Polish goalkeeper (60th).
However, the advantage of the “Pride of Catalonia” was so large that, despite playing weaker, the players of German coach Hansi Flick did not allow themselves to be robbed of the victory.
Barcelona’s team won the Spanish Super Cup for the 15th time in history – it is a record holder in this respect – and the Spanish media calculated that it was the 100th major trophy in the club’s history. This achievement includes, among others: 27 Spanish league titles, 31 in the Spanish Cup, five in the European Cup and the UEFA Super Cup and three in the Club World Cup.
In Sunday’s final in Saudi Arabia, the Catalans were the first to attack, but after Yamal’s shot and Raphinha’s header, Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois performed very well twice. After the second action, Barcelona had a corner kick, but the ball was taken over by the Royals and they launched a counterattack, in which Mbappe played the main role. The Frenchman coped with one of the defenders and sent the ball over the intervening Szczęsny.
After a moment of shock, the “Pride of Catalonia” regained its composure and took control of the match again. The overwhelming advantage in possession of the ball (after 20 minutes within 80 percent of the game time) resulted in an equalizer in the 22nd minute – Lewandowski sent a through pass to Yamal, and the young Spaniard calmly passed the rival defender and with a light but precise shot, gave Courtois no chance.
In the second quarter of an hour, the second Pole also showed his good side – after a corner kick and a header by Frenchman Aurelien Tchouameni, Szczęsny rebounded the ball in front of the goal line and kicked it out of play.
In the 34th minute, another Frenchman from the Madrid team, Eduardo Camavinga, acted irresponsibly, fouling Gavi in his own penalty area as he was escaping from the area. After VAR’s intervention, the referee dictated a penalty kick for Barcelona, which Lewandowski probably took advantage of.
-Real had not yet managed to recover from this blow, and Barcelona carried out another effective action: Frenchman Jules Kounde crossed precisely into the penalty area, and Raphinha headed it again, this time giving Courtois no chance.
The referee added nine minutes to the first half and at the very end of this extra time, Real tried to reduce the deficit with a corner kick. However, the “Royals” played it clumsily, the ball was taken over by their rivals, who launched a counterattack and increased their lead to 4:1. Balde was on the scoresheet (45+10), and Raphinha passed to him.
The second half started with a powerful shot by Brazilian Rodrygo, after which Szczęsny was saved by the crossbar, but in response just a dozen or so seconds later, Raphinha carried out an individual action and finished it, increasing the score to 5:1.
Then it seemed that the emotions were over, but Szczęsny’s unfortunate intervention in the 57th minute and Rodrygo’s goal slightly shook this belief. Referee Gil Manzano initially did not detect a foul, but after VAR intervened, he stopped the game and removed the Polish goalkeeper from the pitch.
However, Barcelona’s advantage was so large that, despite playing weaker, the players of German coach Hansi Flick did not allow themselves to be deprived of the victory. Pena also had his “five minutes” and at the end he effectively saved Mbappe’s shot from a short distance, thanks to which the result did not change.
Lewandowski won his third trophy with Barcelona, and his second Spanish Super Cup (the previous one was won two years ago). In addition, he triumphed in the Premier League in the 2022/23 season, becoming the top scorer then. Szczęsny played his third official match in the “Pride of Catalonia” team and won his first trophy with them – just like coach Flick.
It was the second El Clasico of the current season. The first league match took place in October in Madrid and also ended with a high victory for Barcelona – 4-0.
PAP / Jagoda S.
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