Barça rule the Super Cup against an incapable Real Madrid
Mbappé's first goal put Real Madrid on course for their second title of the year. The Frenchman was back and the team had the perfect midfield. Los Blancos seemed to be flying against a Barça side that was still celebrating the government's help with the Dani Olmo case. Barça's crisis would be terrible, with the league thrown away, the defeat in the Super Cup and the extra-sporting fronts putting the club's future at risk.
On 22 minutes Yamal set the alarm clock off to rouse Real Madrid from their reverie and, before half-time, Balde had already scored the fourth. The nightmare began when Flick's team found Los Blancos' weaknesses, of which there are too many this season.
The first is on the bench. Ancelotti has been open to rotations forced by a hellish schedule, but there are immovable decisions that hurt his team. Asencio looked like a great centre-back, with Sergio Ramos-esque details, brave and daring with the ball at his feet. But his problem was that Tchouaméni recovered from injury and the coach had to find a place for him in the starting 11 to justify his stripes. There was no other option and the Frenchman could not refuse to play, even if it was in a position he does not master.
A defence of four players where two of them don't have the necessary defensive concepts (Lucas Vázquez and Tchouaméni) can save certain games, although the Frenchman showed his deficiencies on the day against Valencia, for example. But when a hard-working team like Barça arrives, a long ball from end to end of the pitch becomes a Raphinha header because Lucas is attacking and Tchouaméni does not control his back. The Frenchman was also not at his best when Lamine confronted him in the equaliser with gestures typical of a midfielder with many metres and teammates behind him to cover his mistakes.
To all this, we have to add a Barça full of energy. Flick's side have inexplicably dropped out of La Liga and are flying in Europe. They have a refined midfield with Gavi, Casadó and Pedro, while up front Yamal is emerging as the new Barça gem and Raphinha and Lewandowski have been put under their new coach's orders and add more than they subtract.
It took Ancelotti 52 minutes to take Tchouaméni out of defence and put him in a midfield he no longer controls as he once did. Ceballos came on in the 46th minute, but Modric, Fran García and Brahim were on the pitch when Raphinha had already scored the fifth goal. Szczesny's sending off for a foul on Mbappé, which the referee failed to see live, was to no avail.
As the VAR reviewed the play, the Barça players huddled together on the edge of the box to prepare for the next half hour of the white siege. Rodrygo's free-kick was the mirage that, at the Bernabéu, would have lifted the stadium to a historic comeback. But Jeddah is not Madrid and, although there was a white majority, Ancelotti's side were unable to hurt Iñaki Peña, who pulled off an immense handball in the final minutes to sink Madrid's morale even further.
What would have happened without Szczesny's red card? An 11 v 11 half an hour more would have seen Ancelotti on the flight back to the Spanish capital, despite the fact that Florentino Pérez is not what he used to be with coaches. The Italian continues and will continue because there is a league and Champions League on the horizon that will be crowned with the Club World Cup. Another thing will be to see his ability to put players in place and demand the signing of a full-back or centre-back if Alaba does not recover.
Barça already have a title and that gives them a lot of morale to face the decisive part of the season. Their challenge will be to fight for the league title against Atlético Madrid, the winter champions, and to go far in the Champions League with a hypothetical match against Liverpool that would pit the two best teams in Europe at the moment against each other.
The Arabian Super Cup has given rise to a lot. From the Government's decision with Barça, to the Blue and Whites' overhaul of Real Madrid in the final, to the ruling of Spanish football.
