REAL MADRID & VINICIUS HUMBLE BARCELONA
Real Madrid humiliated their arch-rivals Barcelona with a comprehensive 4-1 demolition of Xavi’s side in the Spanish Supercopa final, as Vinicius Junior hit a brutal first-half hat-trick against a hapless Catalan defence.
It marks Jude Bellingham’s first trophy in Madrid and he got the party started early with a sumptuous ball for Vinicius to chase after peeling off a crazy high Barcelona backline and easily rounding Inaki Pena to score.
Quite why Xavi set up such a high defensive line against the speedy front two of Vinicius and Rodrygo remains a mystery but the Brazilians took full advantage, sharing three more goals as Barcelona were totally outplayed.
Robert Lewandowski reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a superb volley from the edge of the area but the hope lasted just four minutes before Ronald Araujo, who was later sent off, brought Vinicius down in the area for a penalty that killed the game with five minutes left in the first half.
The only bright spark for Barcelona was Pedri’s long-awaited return from injury but they have the chance to bounce back as they remain in European, cup and league contention while Real Madrid received a La Liga boost without even playing as title rivals Girona dropped points earlier today.
