Barca News Network
·14 de janeiro de 2025
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Yahoo sportsBarca News Network
·14 de janeiro de 2025
FC Barcelona defeating Real Madrid is always a joyous occasion. Dominating Los Blancos is an even greater delight. To do it twice in the same season is nothing short of historic. What Hansi Flick’s men achieved against Carlo Ancelotti’s side at King Abdullah Sport City was truly remarkable.
Barcelona ran away with a 5-2 win over their arch-rivals to lift their first silverware of the season – the Spanish Super Cup. It was also the first-ever trophy at the club level for many of the youngsters in Hansi Flick’s squad currently.
The Catalan club showcased absolute ruthlessness in the game against Real Madrid and if not for the red card early in the second half, this could have ended up getting very ugly for Ancelotti’s men. Regardless, one would have to be happy about the five goals that the team scored.
With all this in mind, here are three talking points for Barcelona from their 5-2 thrashing of Real Madrid to lift the Spanish Super Cup.
Every time Real Madrid assemble a Galáctico team, it seems like a Barcelona player walks away with the crown. This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Nor the second. Surely, this is the third.
Ronaldinho… Lionel Messi… Lamine Yamal… in that order. The 17-year-old was head and shoulders above Real Madrid’s attackers on the night—Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, and Kylian Mbappe—and was only outperformed by Raphinha from his own team.
Lamine’s goal against Real Madrid is one that will be remembered in the history books, much like Lionel Messi’s early strike in his career. The Spaniard glided past not one, not two, not three, but four defenders before making Courtois look like a Sunday league goalkeeper with that finish.
Even apart from the goal, the teenager was decisive with every single action he made on the pitch. He took on players, sent Camavinga into early retirement, made incisive passes, and in general, walked away from the game with absolute aura and immense promise for the future.
Hansi Flick seems to have unlocked something special in Raphinha this season. The Brazilian is playing like a man possessed, and much like a snake charmer mesmerizing a snake, he has the ability to make the ball dance to his every command.
Racking up 30 goal contributions in 27 games across all competitions this season still doesn’t do justice to the way Raphinha performs on the field. That says a lot, especially considering many players worldwide would envy such a tally. He has already superseded Vinicius Jr.’s numbers from his supposed Ballon d’Or robbed season.
What the Brazilian did against Real Madrid was simply sensational. It was a display of immense attacking awareness and both his goals on the night were highlight-reels worthy. There were three Brazilian attackers on the pitch and yet, only one looked deserving of a Ballon d’Or.
In fact, if Raphinha keeps going and maintaining these numbers, along with Barcelona winning trophies this season, it might actually happen for the Brazilian next season but well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?
Hansi Flick has done a lot of good things as the manager of Barcelona but his biggest success yet has not been the attacking football, has not been the number of goals and it has not been their ability to win a trophy.
The German coach’s biggest success as Barcelona’s coach has been his ability to transform the mentality of the team. For so many years, one has seen the team crumble on big occasions and they were tested to their absolute hilt yesterday.
For starters, Barcelona conceded a goal within minutes in the Spanish Super Cup final. In the past, the team would have let their heads drop but definitely not Hansi Flick’s men. Soon after, Inigo Martinez got injured and Araujo, whose future at the club is far from certain had to step up, and boy, how well did he do that!
Finally, the most important moment came after Barcelona received a red card early in the second half. The way the team got together and saw out the game without giving Real Madrid a whiff at goal despite being one man down summed up the work Flick has done with this team and let’s hope it keeps getting better going forward.