Lamine Yamal, left, celebrates scoring Barcelona's equaliser alongside teammate Alex Balde. AFP
Lamine Yamal, left, celebrates scoring Barcelona's equaliser alongside teammate Alex Balde. AFP
Lamine Yamal, left, celebrates scoring Barcelona's equaliser alongside teammate Alex Balde. AFP
Lamine Yamal, left, celebrates scoring Barcelona's equaliser alongside teammate Alex Balde. AFP

Real Madrid v Barcelona: Lamine Yamal stars in Barca five-star show to win Spanish Super Cup


  • English
  • Arabic

Barcelona routed rivals Real Madrid 5-2 to win a wild Spanish Super Cup final in Jeddah.

It was Barca's first trophy of the Hansi Flick era, a result the German coach described as "unbelievable".

Kylian Mbappe put Madrid ahead but a dominant Barcelona hit five in response before their goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off in the second half.

Madrid were hoping to avenge their 4-0 home defeat by Barcelona in October's La Liga Clasico but instead were left battered and bruised by their arch-rivals in Jeddah.

After Mbappe's opener, Lamine Yamal levelled and Robert Lewandowski sent Barcelona ahead from the penalty spot, with Raphinha bagging a brace and Alejandro Balde also on target.

Rodrygo Goes pulled one back for Madrid with a free-kick but they could not capitalise further on their numerical advantage in a humiliating defeat for the Spanish and European champions.

"I think today is a good day because we beat one of the best teams in the world, for the second time this season, Real Madrid, and this is unbelievable," Flick told reporters.

"We won a title here and we are really happy ... today is a day to look positively at this team."

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti laid the blame for the heavy defeat on his team's poor defending.

"We defended badly and that cost us the game – they found their goals quite easily," Ancelotti told Movistar.

"We're sad, like all our fans, it's disappointing and we don't have to hide that ... we have to look forwards, there's nothing else we can do."

Despite a strong Barcelona opening salvo it was Real Madrid who took the lead in the fifth minute with Mbappe's brilliant goal on the counter-attack.

The French forward broke loose on the halfway line after Vinicius Jr won the ball back and, after bursting into the area, clipped past Szczesny.

It took a stunning individual goal from 17-year-old Yamal to level the scoreline, with the Spanish winger cutting in from the right before stroking home a low finish inside the near post.

Barcelona kept pushing and moved ahead through Lewandowski's penalty after Eduardo Camavinga carelessly clattered Gavi.

Raphinha soon added Barcelona's third with a header from Kounde's cross from deep and they grabbed their fourth before half time on the break.

Yamal and Raphinha combined and the latter slipped in Balde, who slotted past Courtois.

Barcelona continued in the same vein after the break and Raphinha netted the fifth with a neat dribble and finish after Marc Casado played him in.

The Catalans were reduced to 10 men when Mbappe sped in at the other end, rounding goalkeeper Szczesny, who brought him down outside the area and after a VAR review was dismissed.

Rodrygo, who earlier hit the post, rifled home the free kick past Szczesny's replacement Inaki Pena.

Mbappe brilliantly teed up Jude Bellingham but the England international was denied by a superb Jules Kounde challenge in stoppage time.

The French forward also came close to scoring again himself in a fine individual display but Pena tipped away his effort.

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe after Barcelona scored their fifth goal. Reuters
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe after Barcelona scored their fifth goal. Reuters

"He was the best [Madrid player]," said Ancelotti.

"We can't always win, if we have to lose a cup, it's better that it's this one," said veteran Madrid midfielder Luka Modric.

Barcelona brought on playmaker Dani Olmo for his first appearance since he was registered to play for the club on a temporary basis, a controversial issue that overshadowed the semi-finals earlier in the week.

However their five-star display offered a host of other talking points as Barca won a record-extending 15th Spanish Super Cup.

"It's really nice, it had been a season since we won a trophy, it's always special and on top of that in a Clasico against Real Madrid," Barcelona defender Kounde told Movistar.

The language of diplomacy in 1853

Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)


We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.

Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale

Pots for the Asian Qualifiers

Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka

PROFILE OF SWVL

Started: April 2017

Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport

Size: 450 employees

Investment: approximately $80 million

Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani

Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

Du Football Champions

The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.

The team

Videographer: Jear Velasquez 

Photography: Romeo Perez 

Fashion director: Sarah Maisey 

Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory 

Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG 

Video assistant: Zanong Maget 

Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud  

Updated: January 13, 2025, 12:55 PM