It’s not often that you see a team score straight after an opposition corner kick – a heavy touch somewhere along the way, a misplaced pass or defenders falling behind in numbers often results in a loss of momentum and missed chances.
The Spanish Super Cup final between Real Madrid and Barcelona on Sunday saw both teams score from each other’s corner kicks in the first half alone.
That summed up a chaotic first half (which spanned 10 minutes of stoppage time) and set the tone for a match that often felt like an exhibition. It ended in a record-extending 15th Super Cup for Barcelona, who scored four goals against Real Madrid in consecutive matches for the first time in Clásico history, winning 5-2.
here, The athlete It breaks down six moments that summed up a specific match of chaos.
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It took less than five minutes for Real Madrid to open the scoring through direct play from Kylian Mbappe and some sluggish defending from Barcelona (a consistent feature of the first half for both teams).
Hansi Flick’s team succeeded in stopping two good balls from Thibaut Courtois through Lamine Yamal and Rafinha in the first four minutes. Rafinha took the corner kick that was the result of the second stop, which was cleared by Federico Valverde. The ball fell between Vinicius Junior and Mark Casado, so the Brazilian took possession of the ball and rushed forward before finding Mbappe.
Vinicius Junior’s pass put Mbappe into a one-on-one against left-back Alejandro Balde (no offside concerns this time), which was inconclusive. Mbappe took advantage of this hesitation, cutting in and then out before slotting the ball over goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to make it 1-0.
The goal was completely avoidable from Barcelona’s point of view, but before the chaos, they had discovered two weaknesses in Madrid. Rafinha’s shot came after Javi collided with Eduardo Camavinga’s shoulder to reach the goal line and cross for the former Leeds United winger, who wandered into the left space between makeshift centre-back Aurelien Tchouamini and right-back Lucas Vazquez.
A combination of Camavinga’s complacency and an area of uncertainty between Tchoamini and Vazquez led to Real Madrid falling apart later in the first half.
There was some lull over the next 15 minutes, a spell full of errors from both teams and Mbappé going down with a heavy kick (the 26-year-old eventually played), making the game feel like an exhibition rather than an emotional one. Loaded with classics and finals. But things started to turn, as Barcelona repeatedly pulled Real Madrid players out of their positions.
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Their reward was a moment of Lionel Messi’s Yamal magic that leveled the score.
The goal was made possible thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s brilliant pass and Yamal filling the space created by Javi’s off-the-ball movement to pull Camavinga out of position.
The equalizer did not bring composure to the match. With Barcelona’s renewed pressure, Real Madrid were forced to play long, leading to another bizarre sequence two minutes later.
The throw-in, after Szczesny emerged from his area to clear a long ball, reached Vinicius Junior, reaching Jude Bellingham, who passed to Vazquez on the right flank. Vázquez’s shot was blocked by Balde, but Real Madrid passed the ball to Valverde for another attempt. His attempt was weak, but it was deflected backwards for a corner kick.
Tchouamini beat Kounde from a free kick to parry Szczesny’s shot, the rebound going wide of the post with Vazquez in the presence.
This second corner was cleared at the near post before Tchouamini met a third kick again, this time with space for an acrobatic kick from the France international which was blocked.
All in all, this is a scene that wouldn’t have happened in a mid-season friendly played in the Middle East.
Barcelona’s intelligent play and defensive sluggishness led to a third chaotic moment in the 33rd minute. Throughout the first half-hour, Lewandowski dropped back to receive the ball while returning to goal, with Camavinga or Antonio Rudiger coming out to close the ball down, leaving space at the back for Barcelona to exploit.
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On this occasion, Gavi chased down a long ball from centre-back Pau Kuparsi in place of Lewandowski, and Rudiger’s header won. The tactical turmoil in the match led to Lewandowski falling straight into the hands of an unmarked Lewandowski, with Camavinga confused as to whether to go after him or Gavi.
As Barcelona recycled the ball, Gavi remained up front, with Yamal and Lewandowski attracting Camavinga’s attention. When Koundé’s cross struck Ferland Mendy inside the box, Javi was in a position to get to the ball first and, after Camavinga initially failed to track him, he lazily stuck his leg out, and the Spanish midfielder grabbed his buttons.
After taking advantage of the first weakness, Barcelona smelled blood and took advantage of the second goal less than two minutes after Lewandowski scored from the resulting penalty kick, as Rafinha penetrated into the space between Chouamini and Vazquez again to head home Kounde’s pass.
Madrid grew desperate. They threw men forward, creating more holes in the midfield.
The following screenshots from the second and fourth minutes of first-half stoppage time underscore how much space Barcelona now has to dictate proceedings, and the potential pitfalls Carlo Ancelotti could face when Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Bellingham and Rodrigo play together in attack.
However, Madrid was not finished contributing to the chaos.
The fourth cross of the first half came after Real Madrid passed the ball to the right flank and passed it to Balde. This negated Barcelona’s high line and allowed Bellingham to pass Rodrigo. He then cut back to Vasquez, who tried to turn it away with a heel.
Balde intercepted the ball but made a mistake in clearing it, as Casado beat Mbappe but headed towards his own goal. Chesney, unsure whether to hold his feet or sweep them with his feet, was caught in an awkward situation. Rodrigo, who was offside, slipped and allowed the keeper to gather.
This was quickly followed by a fifth moment of chaos, one that seemed inevitable at this point.
Ronald Araujo, who replaced the injured Inigo Martinez in the 28th minute, hacked away Mendy’s through ball to give Real a corner kick in the ninth minute of stoppage time. Rodrigo exchanged the ball with Camavinga before trying to find Valverde on the edge of the penalty area.
Yamal anticipated his underpass and intercepted it just beyond the D-line, with Rafinha and Balde running forward alongside him. Yamal found Rafinha, who cut inside Valverde. Balde then took the ball off his Brazilian teammate’s toes before slotting the ball into the bottom corner to make it 4-1.
That finish to the first half couldn’t have been worse for Real Madrid, and they didn’t enjoy much of a break after returning to the dressing room.
In the 48th minute – 90 seconds after Rodrigo fired a Vinicius Junior cross behind the goal – Barcelona scored their fifth goal.
Lewandowski dropped again to knock Rudiger out of position, allowing Casado to pass the ball to Rafinha after he cut in behind Tchouamini – the same mistakes from the first half were repeated again. Then he did what Mbappé did with Balde in the Madrid goal, as he weaved in and out of the opponent, Chouamini in this case, before slotting the ball into the net.
You would imagine that making it 5-1 would be enough to kill the game, with Barcelona happy to be in control and Real Madrid falling behind in damage control, and Ancelotti bringing in centre-back Raul Asensio to replace Vazquez – but Barcelona gave them a glimmer of hope. In the sixth moment of chaos in the 54th minute.
Rafinha attempted a ‘Trivella’ pass as Real Madrid started to push men forward after a set-piece. This goal was blocked by Asensio and fell to Bellingham, who beat Pedri in the air and passed to Mbappé as he ran after him. The Frenchman passed the ball past the onrushing Szczesny, who caught Mbappe’s foot just outside the penalty area.
After reviewing the video assistant referee, referee Jesus Gil Manzano sent off Barcelona’s goalkeeper.
The resulting free-kick was not taken until a full three minutes later, giving Barcelona time to bring Iñaki Pena on goal.
Pena was immediately beaten by Rodrigo, who fired a shot that hit the substitute goalkeeper’s fingertips and inside the post, making the score 5-2.
The remaining 30 minutes, with 11 players chasing the game against 10 Barcelona, saw the quietest period in the frenetic contest, although it still had its moments.
The footballing cliche that previous results don’t matter seems particularly relevant to El Clásico: the last 10 matches in the competition dating back to the start of the 2022-23 season have produced 40 goals and five wins for each team.
But with two successive wins over their rivals in the last two meetings, Flick’s team appears to have thrived in the chaos.
(Top image: Movistar Plus/Wyscout)
