Jules Kounde scored the winner deep in the second half of extra time as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-2 to win the Spanish Super Cup title at the Olympic Stadium in Sevilla on Saturday night.
The highly entertaining and incident-filled encounter lived up to its El Clásico billing, with goals, a mini turnaround, VAR drama, and Kounde’s winner all served in the feisty match.
In the 37th meeting between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey, Pedri, Ferran Torres and Kounde were all on the scoresheet for Barcelona, with Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni briefly threatening to win the trophy for Real Madrid in normal time.
Victory is Barcelona’s 32nd Copa Del Rey title, extending their record as the most successful club side in the competition.
Barcelona dominated the early exchanges, hugging possession and creating the better chances before taking the lead with a sublime finish from Pedri.
The midfield controller took a Lamine Yammal pass before curling into the top corner for 1-0 on 28 minutes. The Blaugrana had more opportunities to increase their lead but could not breach Thibaut Courtois further as Barcelona went into the break with their one-goal advantage.
Real Madrid shook things up early in the second period with Mbappe replacing Rodrygo at the restart, while Luka Modric and Arda Guler were also introduced.
The changes made Los Blancos more competitive in attack. Mbappe won a foul on the edge of the box and scored the free-kick, finding the bottom corner with his low shot to equalise 1-1 in the 70th minute.
Seven minutes later, Tchouameni put Real Madrid ahead with a powerful header from Guler’s corner kick delivery.
Barcelona recovered from the daze to equalise five minutes from time through Ferran Torres, who was able to evade both Anthony Rudiger and Courtois before finishing into an empty net from Yamal’s pass.
There was to be one more drama in the added time of 90 minutes, with Raul Asencio adjudged to have brought down Raphinha in the penalty area for a penalty.
The Real Madrid player and bench fiercely contested this initial ruling, and the decision was overturned after several minutes of VAR and pitch-side monitor review. Raphinha brandished a yellow card for simulation, and the match went into 30 minutes of extra time to find the winner.
Both sides had chances to claim the win, but it was Barcelona who struck the fatal blow through Kounde in the 117th minute. The French defender stopped a Real Madrid counterattack before belting a low shot from distance that found the bottom corner, sending the team into wild celebrations.
Victory is Barcelona’s third consecutive over Real Madrid this season, with Hansi Flick claiming his second domestic trophy, both over Real Madrid, since taking over in the summer.
The German coach can still lead the team to a treble in his first season in charge, with the Spanish La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles still up for grabs for Barcelona.
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