Barcelona beats Real Madrid again to win Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia clasico

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Raphinha scored twice in Saudi Arabia as Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 on Sunday in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.

Raphinha’s 73rd-minute winner came in a fortuitous manner after he slipped while shooting and the shot deflected off Madrid defender Raúl Asencio to fool goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

The clasico final featured a hectic end to the first half when three stoppage-time goals were scored before the break, two by Real Madrid and one by Barcelona, which beat Madrid 5-2 in last year’s final.

Kylian Mbappé, who had missed the semifinals of the mini-Super Cup tournament because of a knee issue, entered the match in the 76th minute but couldn’t do enough to help Madrid equalize. The France forward missed Madrid’s win over Atletico Madrid in the semifinals on Thursday but then traveled from Spain to Saudi Arabia to be available for the final of the mini-tournament.

Robert Lewandowski also scored for Barcelona. Madrid’s goals were scored by Vinícius Júnior and Gonzalo García.

The Catalan club opened the scoring Sunday with Raphinha in a breakaway in the 36th minute. Madrid equalized with a superb goal from Vinícius two minutes into first-half added time, with the Brazil forward capping a nice run by splitting a couple of defenders before scoring from inside the area.

Vinícius hadn’t scored in 16 matches with Madrid, since October.

Lewandowski put Barcelona back ahead two minutes after Vinícius’ goal, and García evened the game again three minutes later at the end of the first half.

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong was sent off in second-half stoppage time.

Barcelona reached the Super Cup semifinals by routing Athletic Bilbao 5-0, while Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 2-1.

New venue for 2027

The president of the Spanish soccer federation, Rafael Louzán, said Sunday that the final of next year’s edition will be played either in Qatar or Kuwait because Saudi Arabia will be hosting the Asian Cup.

The final will return to Saudi Arabia in 2028 and will be played there until at least through 2030.

Spanish league results

The teams not involved in the Spanish Super Cup played a regular round of La Liga matches as the domestic competition reached its midway point.

In Sunday’s games, fifth-place Espanyol drew 1-1 at second-to-last Levante, while midtable Rayo Vallecano defeated Mallorca 2-1 at home.

Barcelona leads the league, sitting four points ahead of Madrid after 19 rounds.

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