Super Barça in the Super Cup

Xavi already has a title, the anxiolytic with the best effect in football. And Madrid sees itself in a mid-grade crisis, the first of Ancelotti’s second stage. Why this did not consist only in raising a glass, but in letting the rival know it. Win to warn. And Barça achieved both with players who come from the future (Gavi and Pedri) and some who will soon, unfortunately, be past (Busquets). Ancelotti was as slow as the team. The game called for another line-up, in which Nacho seemed essential given the state of Carvajal and Rüdiger, and the 0-2 half-time, a revolution, which did not come either. In part, because there are too many unskilled footballers on that bench, in part because the coach has closed his circle of starters too much. The game was always Gavi’s, who has the brush and the brush.

A Classic, even in a pocket edition like this, intimidates. As expected, Xavi saved a winger to complete De Jong, along with Busquets, Gavi and Pedri, a more armed midfield. He had not done so until now in his four previous duels with Madrid, but the state of necessity (of titles) was not so palpable then either. So he presented a mixed formula, with a kind of double pivot (Busquets plus De Jong), Pedri as playmaker and Gavi lying on the left. And a noticeably less advanced defense than usual. Xavi’s respect for Madrid was not left alone in his words before the press.

Ancelotti, on the other hand, had already been there before. In strategic matches he always put Valverde in the equation to the detriment of a third point, and did not want to change this time despite the loss of Tchouameni. Or perhaps precisely because of that setback, which meant a muscular deficit for the team. So he reoffended in Camavinga, which is a double-edged sword: plenty of lungs, short of trade. He has too many distractions behind the wheel. He lasted again for a while.

The beginning was chess. Araújo repeated as a marker for Vinicius and he escaped a lot from the band to confuse. The first time they met, the Uruguayan delivered a dark orange ankle kick that De Burgos missed.

vervain defense

broke the calm Lewandowski, which ends without warning. Unlike Benzema, he doesn’t invent goals, he just doesn’t let them slip away. His first two interventions were a header that went high and a dry shoe that was taken out between Courtois and the post. The Belgian is half Madrid, a red alert for the team. The other medium is Benzema, the first to respond. In a center of Mendy He looked for a wrong-footed header, very much in his repertoire, which had a bit of spice left over. All in the midst of a moderate to severe Barça dominance, with more threats than shots. Madrid was allowed to do, waiting for better times that usually arrive in their own counterattack or the despair of others.

But what came was a worse time, in a song of Ruediger, a signing that is already under investigation. He sent a penalty pass to Camavinga, who lost the pulse with Busquets, and Dembélé, Pedri, Lewandowski and Gavi gave the play a quick procedure to put Barça ahead.

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The goal described the game well: a tactically and emotionally superior Barça, with the salt of Pedri and the pepper of Gavi, had left a Madrid without direction, abandoned by Modric and Kroos, extremely surpassed, and sugar in defense. It was also demonstrated in the second goal. Carvajal was too optimistic when trying to cut a pass from De Jong well out of his reach and he handed over his band to Gavi, already the owner of the Clásico at the time, who served Lewandowski the goal. Things were already pointing to 0-4 at the Bernabéu less than a year ago.

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Always Gavi

After a lost game, Ancelotti brought in Rodrygo, an area player, but the game was not aired there. The 0-2 forced a pressure for which this post-world Madrid has no energy. So the game continued to be overwhelmingly for Barça. Courtois subtracted two more goals, against Dembélé and Courtois, with no more protection than his anatomy. All the disputes fell on the Barça side, an indicator that measures strength and desire in equal parts.

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The curtain on the game was thrown by Gavi, who received from Lewandowski and waited for Pedri to reach the far post to hand him the third goal against a Madrid already in ruins in which only Vinicius continued without taking out the white flag. Then he was able to with Araújo, who sometimes beat him for the good and must have seen the red card for the bad.

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The thing was so determined that Ancelotti’s latest changes had views to the future. He took out Kroos and Modric, soldiers who are worth other wars, and left an unprecedented midfield: Ceballos, Valverde, Asensio. Dance time for Barça between olés from the stands. He was giving himself the pleasure that he had been denied for two years, although Benzema will end up mitigating the white pain with another goal that only counts for him. If the thing was to hang the medal and leave a message to the eternal rival, the play was perfect. Presumably Madrid will take note.