Beat Real Madrid, Barcelona Defend Spanish Super Cup 

Barcelona win Spanish Super Cup

JAKARTA - Barcelona retained the Spanish Super Cup title or Supercopa de Espana after defeating Real Madrid 3-2 at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Monday, January 12, 2026 WIB. Wing player Raphinha scored a brace which became the determinant of Barca's victory in this second volume of El Clasico.

Barca avenged the defeat when they met their arch rivals again. In the first volume of El Clasico in the Spanish LaLiga competition, Barca had to admit Madrid's superiority. At that time at Madrid's home in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Barca was forced to surrender 2-1.

However, Barca coach Hansi Flick actually has a brilliant record in El Clasico last season. From four meetings in the domestic competition, the Copa del Rey final and the Spanish Super Cup, Flick always outperformed Carlo Ancelotti who was then in charge of Madrid by bringing Barca to victory.

Now, Madrid has changed coaches and is handled by Xabi Alonso. The score of these two coaches is 1-1. However, Flick is slightly superior because Barca is still perched at the top of the LaLiga standings. Meanwhile, Madrid is following in second place and is four points behind.

Alonso actually hopes to win the Supercopa de Espana as well as his first trophy as Madrid coach. If he becomes the champion, at least he can raise the confidence of the team which has difficulty chasing Barca in the competition. Alonso also experienced pressure after reaping disappointing results in the league. Ironically, Alonso had a brilliant start in the early months of the competition.

"How you lose, it's always painful. Especially this match was a draw and very tight," Alonso said as quoted by france24.

"We were almost equal. We fought until the end of the game. We congratulate Barca," he said again.

Alonso deserved to be disappointed because the match was very tight and both teams alternated to break the opponent's goal. Contrast with the Spanish Super Cup final last season. At that time, Barca seemed to win easily 5-2 over Los Merengues.

"We are of course very happy to have won the next trophy. Playing against Madrid is still a big game and always tight," said striker Robert Lewandowski, who returned to start in the big match.

"We played very well in the first half. The same in the second half and we tried to add goals. But in the end we won. That's the important thing," said Lewandowski.

In that match, both Barca and Madrid fielded their best teams. Even Alonso included Kylian Mbappe who had previously missed the semifinal match because he had not recovered from a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Flick again chose Lewandowski as a starter so that Ferran Torres sat on the bench. Wing player Lamine Yamal was again the first choice. When winning against Athletic Bilbao in the semi-finals, Yamal was only brought down in the second half.

Madrid have already attacked through Vinicius Junior. It's just that Vinicius Jr, who has not scored a goal in 16 matches, only poses a threat because his efforts can be thwarted by goalkeeper Joan Garcia.

Barca was a little late in the heat, but they were able to catch up with Madrid's offensive game. In fact, the Blaugrana managed to take the lead when Raphinha broke the deadlock in the 36th minute. The goal came when Raphinha, who received the ball from the middle of the field, then made a solo run into the Madrid defense area. Once he entered the penalty box, the Brazilian national team player fired a hard shot to the left side of the goal without being able to reach goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Only Barca's advantage did not last long. Vinicius Jr, a compatriot of Raphinha, managed to equalize in the first half injury time. He had a moment of showing off the action of Jules Kounde's defender before breaking into Barca's goal.

The score changed 1-1 and the match got hotter before halftime. How not, a moment later or exactly 45+2 minutes, Lewandowski who worked with Pedri managed to defeat Courtois' goalkeeper. The Polish national team striker fired a shot that Courtois couldn't reach so the score changed to 2-1.

Madrid refused to surrender even though the first 45 minutes were over. Only two minutes later, it was Gonzalo Garcia's turn to break into Barca's goal. It started from a corner kick and defender Dean Huijsen jumped high to greet the ball with a header.

However, the ball hit the crossbar so it rebounded. The stray ball was immediately greeted by Garcia who was in a difficult position to kick into the goal. The ball hit the crossbar before going into the goal. The score changed to 2-2 and lasted until the first half ended.

In the second half, the intensity of the match decreased slightly. Both teams only created a few opportunities. Barca finally took advantage when Raphinha got the chance to score.

From outside the penalty area, he unleashed a powerful shot that hit defender Raul Asencio, which made the ball slightly turn and goalkeeper Courtois couldn't do anything.

In a 3-2 deficit, Alonso included Mbappe in the hope of equaling the score and becoming the ultimate weapon if a penalty shootout occurred.

But Alonso's hopes were not realized. Mbappe only caused midfielder Frenkie de Jong to be sent off for a foul against the France captain.

Mbappe failed to break Barca's goal and the score of 3-2 remained until the end of the match. Barca also extended the record as the team that won the Spanish Super Cup the most for the 16th time.