Barca’s La Manita in a dominating final: Match Analysis

Hansi Flick won his first trophy with Barcelona in a dominating display at the Super Copa de Espana. Two goals by Raphinha and a goal each by Lewandowski, Yamal and Balde sealed the title for the Blaugrana.

Ancelloti’s plan and what went wrong

• Madrid entered the match with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Vinicius, Bellingham and Rodrygo behind Kylian Mbappe.
• Ancelloti was hoping to catch Barcelona on the counter with Mbappe staying upfront and not dropping to defend.
• This tactic almost immediately worked for Los Blancos as on a counter Vinicius stole possession from Casado and released a through ball for Mbappe who danced past Balde and gave Madrid the lead with the first goal of the game.
• After the goal, Barcelona started to retain most of the possession. Ancelloti’s men tried to force another error out of Barca by pressing high but it back-fired for them.

Flick beating Ancelloti at his own game

Scoring through quick counter attacks is Real Madrid’s signature move. The Los Blancos are so good at it that they press aggressively and try to force an error from the opposition and then release through balls to their pacy wingers who are deadly attackers.

• Flick mixed Barcelona’s DNA with counter attacks and it worked perfectly.
• When Madrid were busy pressing high, Kounde played a pass straight to Lewandowski who guided the ball to the unmarked Yamal who was already ahead of Mendy. He danced past Tchouameni and sent Courtois the wrong way scoring a beautiful goal.

• The second goal came when Gavi attacked a space inside the box, Camavinga misjudged the ball and gave away a penalty which Lewandowski converted to give Barcelona the lead.

• After giving away the lead Madrid was forced to come out and press high but Barca’s midfield continued to retain possession.
• Kounde once again played a world-class cross from almost the halfway line to Raphinha who headed it into the goal first time. Lucas Vazquez could do nothing but watch.

• Lamine Yamal showed us again that his vision is equally world class as his dribbling. On a counter, he released a through ball in Raphinha’s path who outpaced Fede Valverde and cut inside.
• Balde took it from there and smashed it past Courtois to make it 4-1 for Barca just before half-time.

• In the 48th minute the same scenario played out, Casado released a ball for Raphinha on the counter who feinted Tchouameni and scored the 5th for Barca completing the iconic ‘La Manita’

Flick’s men stayed composed in the face of adversity

Ancelloti’s plan worked one more time for Madrid when in the 56th minute Kylian Mbappe was once again released on a counter and through on goal. Szczesny was forced to rush out of his box to stop him but he ended up tripping Mbappe and was sent off after a VAR review.

• Rodrygo sent all of the Polish keeper’s efforts in vain after scoring from the free-kick and giving the Madrid fans some hope.
• However, after this Barca was sitting back and defending well and Madrid were not able to create any clear chances.
• Ancelloti finally realised he needed a creator in his midfield but realised it too late. He subbed in Luka Modric in the 64th minute who created 4 chances for his side after coming on.
• But Barcelona managed to hold on until the very last minute and clinched their first title of the season. Hopefully, many more to come!