Barcelona beats Osasuna and will play Real Madrid for 2nd straight year in Spanish Super Cup final

Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh (AP) — For the second consecutive 12 months, the victor of the Spanish Tremendous Cup can be decided by the “clasico.”

Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Osasuna on Thursday secured a rematch between Actual Madrid and Barcelona within the Saudi Arabian Tremendous Cup.

The Catalan workforce, with out Lionel Messi and underneath coach Xavi Hernández, gained the title for the primary time final season due to objectives from Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal.

Madrid defeated rival Atletico Madrid 5-3 in further time on Wednesday to advance to the Sunday closing. In October, it defeated Barcelona 2-1 within the Spanish league to win the primary “clasico” of the season.

Barcelona gained the trophy final season after defeating Actual Madrid 3-1. The Catalan workforce was underneath stress to supply a powerful efficiency following a run of poor ones, so one other victory this 12 months could be useful. On the halfway level of the competitors, it’s seven factors behind Girona and Madrid, the leaders of the Spanish league.

Since a 5-0 thumping of Antwerp within the Champions League group stage in September, Barcelona has not gained by multiple aim in 20 video games. Its lone different victory of the season, coming within the Spanish league in August towards Cadiz, got here by two objectives or extra.

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong said, “We have been enhancing.” “We performed higher within the second half, however the first half wasn’t that nice. It is all the time an important sport to play versus Madrid. There can be a contest between two elite groups. We’ll be ready.

Though Barcelona managed early on, few groups had many alternatives within the first half. After the break, it maintained its lead and took the lead within the 59th minute on a low shot from Lewandowski following an help from Ilkay Gündogan. Three minutes into stoppage time, Yamal clinched the win from inside the world following a powerful run by João Félix.

Xavi made two substitutions within the second half to introduce Pedri and Félix, which gave Barcelona a carry. An harm had occurred shortly earlier than halftime, and Yamal had taken Raphinha’s place.

Osasuna is among the many prime defensive golf equipment, so we knew we might have issue, Xavi said. The gamers who had been substituted in for us carried out admirably. We’re comfortable, despite the fact that we understand there’s nonetheless a lot to be improved. There is not a transparent favourite for the championship sport, however perhaps we will repeat our success from the earlier 12 months.

Osasuna claimed that Lewandowski’s aim was arrange by a foul.

David García, the captain of Osasuna, declared, “It was a transparent foul.” The identical groups are persistently referred to as for these fouls. Regretfully, we had been anticipating extra. We should categorical remorse to our supporters.

Osasuna, which hasn’t positioned decrease than eleventh within the Spanish league since making a comeback to the highest flight in 2019, made an effort to realize floor on the finish however was unable to generate many significant alternatives.

Roughly 600 Osasuna supporters traveled from Spain to witness the match, making a vibrant environment within the Riyadh stadium. For Wednesday’s semifinal, neither a large fan base traveled to help Barcelona nor Madrid or Atletico.

The Tremendous Cup’s new “Closing 4” format debuted in Saudi Arabia in 2020 within the first of a profitable multi-year association for the golf equipment and the Spanish soccer affiliation.

Because the victor of the Spanish league the earlier 12 months, Barcelona made it to the Tremendous Cup. Final season, Osasuna superior to the Copa del Rey closing however was defeated by Madrid.

The audio recordings obtained throughout video critiques between officers are being made out there following video games for the primary time in a Spanish competitors, the Tremendous Cup. The method will keep on throughout league video games in Spain.