Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 3-1 in a one-sided El Clasico to win the Spanish Super Cup at the King Fahd Stadium in Saudi Arabia on Sunday night.
The Catalan giants dominated the affair as Real Madrid were made to look pedestrian over the entire ninety minutes.
This was Barcelona’s 14th Super Cup win as Gavi put in a flawless display to score one setup two assists on the night.
Wonderkid opens the scoring
The 18-year-old midfielder opened the scoring in the 33rdrd minute as Robert Lewandowski slid in an inch perfect pass after the Barcelona midfield regained possession high up the pitch from the error prone Eduardo Camavinga.
This was after Barcelona had settled into the game quite early with their possession-based game and Lewandowski had hit the post minutes earlier.
Barcelona went 2-0 ahead right at the stroke of half time after Real’s defense was all at sea. Frenkie De Jong broke off pressure from Dani Carvajal and Toni Kroos to slide in a fine pass to Gavi and the latter this time turned provider for Lewandowski with an inch perfect cutback for his teammate.
This was the Polish striker’s 20th goal for Barcelona in all competitions.
The Catalans could have made it three just after the restart, but Ousmane Dembele’s effort was well saved from Thibaut Courtois. Real lacked rhythm and could hardly get any foothold on the game.
Pedri makes it a rout
Barcelona made it 3-0 in the 69thth minute once again after winning the ball in the middle of the park. Lewandowski received a simple pass in between the channels then played into the path of Gavi who found Pedri in the far post for a simple tap in.
The gulf in class between the two sides was evident as Barcelona’s gameplay was reminiscent of the tiki-taka days. The Blaugrana passed the ball with ease playing triangles across the pitch, limiting Real’s time on the ball. Ancelotti’s side did manage to get a consolation of their own in stoppage time when Karim Benzema scored in the 93rd minutes.
A statement performance from Barcelona shows their intentions clear this season as they will now concentrate on winning the La Liga title to secure a domestic double. They currently lead Real by 3 points at the top of the table with 41 points from 16 games.
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