Real Madrid are the deserved winners of the Spanish Super Cup. There’s no argument that Barça were missing and totally unrecognisable during the 180 minutes witnessed by their depressed fans. If at Camp Nou they suffered a troubling defeat, the match at Santiago Bernabéu ended up further disrupting a team in need of a return to its origins.
It has been a black week for Barça, who stopped fighting for the first title of the season against their eternal rival. Neither Messi, nor Luis Suárez, nor Piqué or Busquets, could save the second-leg that always seemed lost. Neither could Ernesto Valverde spur on a Barça, affected by the departure of Neymar.
Total crisis
Not for many, many years has there been such a complicated situation, and luckily it is only the start of the season. Institutionally there are cracks to fix, the supporters are not happy, and the team is not responding. It can’t get worse than a Barça gifting the Super Cup to Real Madrid.
The virtuosity and the joy of past times, where everyone’s role was clear, seems to have vanished. And even more so after another match to forget. The first knife was thrust in after just four minutes. That footballer who escaped Barça for only €4m, Marco Asensio, demonstrated that it is not necessary to go very far away to find talent with a great future. The Majorcan footballer softened a bad Barça with the first great goal of the night in the fourth minute.
The heat in Madrid made Valverde’s whole team fall asleep. With a 3-5-2 formation, an unexpected tactical revolution, it was still impossible to fight against the lack of footballers in midfield with a good touch of the ball. At times they had to resort to four players at the back, and sometimes five. There has no way to unravel Madrid with such devastating inertia.
The paradigm of slowness
The clear example of this Barça can be once again illustrated by André Gomes. Slow in each play and in each breakthrough to attack, it is the best reference, but not the only one, to transmit the appearance of a Barça wandering around the Bernabéu.
No one knew where they were playing, which role they had, nor where their team-mates were. Piqué, Umtiti, Mascherano, Busquets and Luis Suárez couldn’t find any solutions. Messi had to turn up timidly to try and unleash the slow Barça machine. The Argentine, not receiving the right passes in the right conditions, had to create everything alone. Only a shot at the crossbar was achieved. Without team-mates to associate himself with, nor with a united team, it is not possible to overcome a superior rival.
Real Madrid took advantage of the occasions they had to crush a Barça showing a disastrous image again. Benzema scored the second goal in the final stretch of the first half to condemn the Super Cup.
It was clearly demonstrated that Barça lack direction, Valverde does not yet have the solutions, and the team is missing many pieces to return it to what it was. Barça is falling to the bottom of the well. The eternal rival has wiped its face on two occasions now, and it has shown that the team will have to improve, and a lot. Madrid has overthrown the defender of the title and is now the Super Cup champion.