Thus, the first title in Spain for 2026 ended up in the hands of Barcelona and of course its completely successful president, Joan Laporta. Barcelona prevailed in a particularly strong and tough game (in the 90+5’ their captain, Dutchman Frenkie De Jong, was sent off with a straight red card) against their great rival, Real, 3-2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and won the Spanish Super Cup for the 16th time in its history, becoming the most successful team in the competition.

The Catalans were the ones who had control of the ball and the initiative of the movements for most of the match, while the Real Madrid team tried to become threatening mainly through counterattacks. The Brazilian winger was in amazing form and regularly created serious problems for the Blaugrana defense. In the 14’ Vinicius threatened, but his effort went just wide. The Brazilian, Rafinha, warned in the 35th minute and in the 36th minute opened the score with a wonderful individual energy and finish from inside the small area.

In the added time of the first half, the spectacle was extremely impressive, especially in the last 7 minutes. Vinicius responded with a beautiful goal in the 45+2′. In fact, Vinicius nominated himself for the Puskas Award, when he took the ball from the left, entered the area, passed the ball under the feet of Kunde and with successive feints found space to send the ball into the corner, tying the score at 1-1.

Two minutes later, the Polish forward Robert Lewandowski (in the last year of his contract) gave Barcelona the lead again with a nice place with the right outside from inside the area. Real Madrid equalized before the end of the first half with the young talented forward Gonzalo Garcia (started instead of Mbappe) who caught up and shot before falling completely to the ground.

In the second half, Real Madrid entered the match stronger and had two good moments with Vinicius, but he failed to capitalize on them. On the contrary, the left-footed Brazilian, Rafinha in the 73rd minute, favored and by chance, sent the ball into the net of the Belgian, Courtois and Barcelona to the heavens.

Barcelona finished the Clasico with 10 players due to the expulsion of their Dutch captain, Frenkie de Jong, while Real Madrid had two great chances to score in extra time, but Carreras with a right pass sent the ball into the hands of Joan Garcia and central defender, Asensio with a header sent the ball over Garcia and the 3-2 remained until the end.



Thus, another Clasico was another gain for football. And the team of the German Hansi Flick for the second consecutive year won the precious trophy, putting several millions in its coffers.

Disappointed Mbappe

Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe was particularly disappointed by the loss of the Spanish Super Cup title, and was seen urging his teammates not to do pasillo to the winners.

The Merengues went first to collect the silver medals after the game and the French star of the Madrid team reportedly shouted at Xabi Alonso's players to quickly leave the field, in order to avoid being near the podium and to do the right thing for the Blaugrana.

As expected, the incident went viral, with some criticizing Mbappe and others taking the actions of the 27-year-old striker more lightly, who has lost 3/3 finals against Barça since leaving Paris Saint-Germain to become a Real Madrid player. With the Queen, he has celebrated the victory of two titles, the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.

The golden book of the institution

• 16 conquests: Barcelona (1983, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2025, 2026)

• 13 conquests: Real Madrid (1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2024)

• 3 conquests: Athletic  Bilbao (1984, 2015, 2021), Deportivo La Coruña (1995, 2000, 2002)

• 2 wins: Atletico Madrid  (1985, 2014)

• 1 win: Valencia (1999), Sevilla (2007), Zaragoza (2004), Mallorca (1980), Sociedad (1982)

Manos Staramopoulos

Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs

Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com

Athens (Greece).