The Blaugrana punished Blancos' defending in an embarrassing defeat for Carlo Ancelotti's side
Real Madrid were thrashed in a second straight Clasico, continuous woeful defending letting them down in a 5-2 battering at the hands of Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final. Los Blancos were consistently beaten on the counter attack, and conceded five goals within 50 minutes to make a truly horrible Clasico loss.
This was not a calm game. Nor was it cagey. Instead, from minute one, chaos unfolded. Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring, leading a well-orchestrated counter-attack before shifting the ball out of his feet and smashing it home. And that was as good as it got.
Lamine Yamal offered the Barca response, strolling into the right channel, cutting onto his stronger foot and finding the bottom corner. They added a second after 36 minutes, when Robert Lewandowski converted from the penalty spot. The Blaugrana's third came on the back of some tepid Madrid defending, Raphinha floating into acres of space and converting a free header. Balde made it four after another sloppy piece of play, an underhit pass from a corner giving Barca a clean break down the pitch, which ended with a calm side-footed finish into the bottom corner. Raphinha turned it into a drubbing early in the second half, twisting Aurelien Tchouameni inside out and wrong-footing Thibaut Courtois.
Things seemed poised to turn after an hour. Wojciech Szczesny was shown a straight red for scything Mbappe down outside the box. Rodrygo curled the ensuing free-kick into the top corner. But that was about it. Madrid couldn't create against a dogged 10-man Barca, and suffered a second straight forgettable derby defeat – while watching their arch-rivals lift a trophy at the end of it all.
GOAL rates Real Madrid's players from King Abdullah Sports City…
Getty Images SportGoalkeeper & Defence
Thiabut Courtois (4/10):
Made a nice save early. Could do nothing about any of the goals, really.
Lucas Vazquez (3/10):
Targeted from the first minute. Didn't track his man half of the time, and was torn apart by Raphinha for his 50 minutes on the pitch.
Aurelien Tchouameni (4/10):
Absolutely nowhere on the Barca third. Subbed after an hour.
Antonio Rudiger (5/10):
Uncharacteristically out of position as Yamal strolled in to equalise. Improved slightly but not particularly good.
Ferland Mendy (5/10):
Failed to contain Yamal – not that it's particularly easy. Didn't do much, if anything, going forward.
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Federico Valverde (5/10):
Poor for stretches. Overhit a few passes. A blunder led to the Barca fourth. Moved to right back, where he did mostly ok.
Eduardo Camavinga (4/10):
Should have been booked twice within the first 45 minutes, but got away with it. Hooked at the break – and smartly so.
Jude Bellingham (4/10):
Marked out of the game in the first half. Not much better in the second. Disappeared on the biggest stage, for once.
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Rodrygo (5/10):
Dangerous on the ball, buried a lovely free kick, lacking in impact otherwise.
Kylian Mbappe (6/10):
Scored an outrageous goal, picked up a knock, got Szczesny sent off. The best of the attacking trio.
Vinicius Jr (4/10):
Barely involved before being subbed after 75 minutes. Could have easily been shown a second yellow.
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Dani Ceballos (6/10):
Rarely misplaced a pass, but didn't offer much in the way of attacking inspiration.
Raul Asencio (5/10):
Replaced Vazquez, and couldn't do much worse.
Luka Modric (5/10):
Floated around, created some cute angles. Couldn't do it single-handedly though.
Fran Garcia (6/10):
Scampered up and down the left in a lively 15 minutes.
Brahim Diaz (N/A):
Barely touched the ball.
Carlo Ancelotti (4/10):
What a miserable evening. His Madrid side was taken apart for 50 minutes, and then looked void of ideas against 10 men. At least it came in a competition that doesn't matter much.
