Straight
The penalty shoot-out gave Barça-Madrid the final of the Super Cup. The Catalans also needed luck from eleven meters to beat Betis. Ter Stegen stopped Juanmi and Carvalho’s shots and classified Barcelona. The keeper has been the best of a troubling side whose games are slipping away at Riyadh and Camp Nou, lacking in personality and play and doomed to some unfortunate endings that belie the best starts.
2
Bravo, Aitor Ruibal (Sabaly, min. 78), Pezzella, Juan Miranda, Luiz Felipe, Guido Rodríguez (Guardado, min. 85), Fekir (Loren Morón, min. 90), Rodri (Juanmi, min. 78), Canales (William Carvalho, min. 45), Luiz Henrique and Borja Iglesias (Willian José, min. 67)
2
Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto (A. Christensen, min. 78), Koundé, Alba (Marcos Alonso, min. 78), Ronald Araújo, Pedri, Gavi (Kessié Franck, min. 95), Frenkie De Jong (Busquets, min. 63), Ousmane Dembélé (Ferrán Torres, 63′), Raphinha (Ansu Fati, 85′) and Lewandowski
Gates 0-1 min 39: Lewandowski. 1-1 min. 76: Fekir. 1-2 mins. 92: Ansu Fati. 2-2 mins. 100: Loren Idiot.
referee Carlos del Cerro Grande
Yellow cards Fekir (min. 47), Sergi Roberto (min. 60), Luiz Henrique (min. 68), Raphinha (min. 73), Guido Rodríguez (min. 79), Juan Miranda (min. 91) and Guardado ( minute 111)
Getting started in the Super Cup was difficult for Betis. They’re a very cheerful team and, having reached the Champions League zone, they’re brimming with so much confidence that for a moment they even looked unconcerned about their rivals in Riyadh. Pellegrini’s challenge was clear as he paired Canales with Fekir, Luiz Henrique and Borja Iglesias. A formation of players without a guardado or carvalho and with a single support in the middle like Guido. The ambitious Verdiblancos even seemed ready to keep the ball against the possessive Barça. Barça’s reaction wasn’t exactly cautious, as was the case at the Metropolitan, but it was just as bold as their opponents, as Xavi provided De Jong as a central midfielder and brought back the two extremes, Dembélé and Raphinha, a proposition who has been forgotten since the fiasco of the Bernabéu.
The Barcelona plan worked better than Betis’. The Verdiblancos lost the leather twice in a row as soon as they took off from the middle due to good pressure from Barcelona. The Catalans quickly recaptured the ball and pressed for Lewandowski in search. However, the forward didn’t make contact with either the wingers or the midfielders and Barça couldn’t finish off the separated Betis. Barcelona’s academic football lacked spice, players were stuffed with the ball and barely a shot was counted beside a goal disallowed by Pedri for offside by Raphinha. In any case, the move marked a turning point in the game. Betis started gaining yards and their arrivals were psychic as Barca’s squad was too vulnerable and too stretched and not very compact, being delivered to their centre-backs Koundé and Araujo as well as to ter Stegen.
The Barcelona keeper was great, especially with two shots, one particularly difficult from Luiz Henrique, and the cuts from Koundé and Sergi Roberto prevented Betis from scoring. The Verdiblancos didn’t defend well either, as was noticed in the game for Lewandowski’s goal. No one reported on Pedri’s departure from his court and the Tenerife man who has been linked to Dembélé. The winger defeated Ruibal and set up Lewandowski, who was thwarted in the first shot due to Luiz Felipe’s block and was accurate in defence: 0-1. Barca’s move was much more effective than the control play imposed at the start of a game that was becoming increasingly open with Xavi’s and Pellegrini’s decision. The Verdiblanco manager corrected himself at half-time, removing Canales to use William Carvalho for consistency while Xavi kept the two wingers despite the team splitting and conceding good shots against Betis.
The Catalans unsuccessfully tried to cool down the game, overly passive, very thoughtful against the impatient Betis. Barça don’t know how to rest with the ball and every appointment there are turnovers, also permeable against Betis. The competition lost rhythm as there was no bigger protagonist than Dembélé on the Barça side. However, the Frenchman felt uneasy and was substituted while Busquets took De Jong’s place in his 700th game. The round of changes, which also affected Borja Iglesias, sparked a clash that Barça didn’t know how to govern and Betis didn’t find a way to attack him, only intimidated by Araujo. Nothing new for a Barça team that faces an opponent’s mistake, accident or success every day, relying on an agonizing victory that doesn’t always happen, as Espanyol have shown.
History repeated itself in the Super Cup due to Betis’ success after one of Ferran’s many turnovers. The Verdiblancos hung around in Ter Stegen’s penalty area for a long time given the passivity of Barça’s defence, before Fekir’s shot. Extra time was inevitable after semi-automatic offside intervened again to cancel out a Lewandowski goal and Bravo shone on an Ansu Fati shot.
The striker took charge in extra time with a superb goal from a Marcos free-kick. The unconventional Ansu crossed in a spectacular shot, which the unprecedented Loren responded to with a beautiful heel shot before the Araujo mark. Not knowing how to end games or overtime, the Azulgranas turned to a penalty shoot-out where the two goalkeepers who met at Barça between 2014 and 2016 clashed: Ter Stegen, in top form, won the game against Bravo .
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