Barcelona reached the Spanish Super Cup final by defeating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in Saudi Arabia.
Young stars Javi and Lamine Yamal led Barcelona, without Dani Olmo after his license to play was revoked, to the Spanish Super Cup final with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.
Spanish playmaker Olmo was cleared to play again on a temporary basis ahead of Wednesday’s match, but the decision came too late for him or Pau Victor, in the same position, to feature against Copa del Rey winners Athletic.
Javi put Barcelona ahead from close range in the 17th minute, and then young winger Yamal scored the second goal early in the second half.
Real Madrid, the Spanish and European champion, will face Mallorca, the cup runner-up, on Thursday in the second semi-final match.
“We don’t care [who we face in the final]. “It will be difficult and we want to win it, which is the important thing, and go home with the cup.” Yamal told Movistar after the match.
Barcelona, who qualified as runners-up in La Liga, started the game brightly with Rafinha volleying over the bar after a brilliant cross from Jules Kounde and forcing Unai Simon into a fine save from a free-kick.
It was no surprise when the Catalans broke the deadlock when Alejandro Balde cut the ball back for Javi, who plays in the attacking midfield position for Olmo, to turn it into the net.
The 20-year-old pointed to an imaginary clock in his celebration, referring to Olmo, who regularly performs the same move after scoring.
On the other hand, Inaki Williams slowed the ball down too long which led to the collapse of Athletic’s best attacking move of the first half.
17-year-old Yamal was supposed to add Barcelona’s second goal after he blocked Rafinha’s shot, but she missed trying to lift the ball.
Wojciech Szczesny, in his second start for Barcelona, made a fine save to deny Inaki Williams just before half-time.
Barcelona doubled their lead at the start of the second half when Javi slipped in Yamal, who finished the match confidently.
“Athlete is a very physical team that makes you run a lot. We suffered above all in the end, but we managed to play well, and we are very happy,” added Yamal.
Veteran Polish striker Robert Lewandowski wasted a great opportunity to add the third goal with a shot outside the goal when he was in a good position.
Sports coach Ernesto Valverde, who was sacked as Barcelona coach following a defeat at the same stadium in 2020, brought in Neco Williams to try and turn the tide of the match.
The Spain international, who has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer, was not fit enough to start, but made a positive impact from the bench.
The winger set up Oscar De Marcos to score the goal, but the Athletic defender was called offside and the goal was disallowed.
Inaki Williams’ goal was also ruled out for offside after a poor back pass from Frenkie de Jong took a slight deflection off Alvaro Gallo on its way to the Ghana international.
Barcelona secured its victory and awaits its rivals in the final match on Sunday, in which Olmo will be allowed to participate.