Real-Barcelona, ​​Super Cup final | Between Kepa, Lunin and Cruyff | Football | Kinds of sports

Super Bowl Saudi Arabia This Sunday (20:00, Movistar) he will play a match for which he pays 40 million euros annually. Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid are on a 20-game unbeaten run against Barcelona that is coming in fits and starts but clinging to the clairvoyance of Pedri, who has recovered from yet another injury. The recent trajectory points to white favoritism, which even Carlo Ancelotti admits – “Perhaps in the last games we showed that we are better,” he admitted this Saturday – but in a classic game you know how to get in, but never how you get out.

The event revolves around two antecedents: Barça’s undisputed 3-1 victory in the last Super Cup final, which Xavi remembers as the “perfect match”; and the huge influence of the young Englishman from Madrid in winning the championship in Montjuïc (1-2). “I arrive more relaxed than last year. Calmer, more meaningful. We have already shown that we are a winning project,” the Barça coach assured the press group, with which he has not always understood lately. “We have played good football this season, and I would say better than last season. “What I analyze is one thing, and what you say is another,” Xavi said.

The preview showcased the different universes of both clubs ahead of the final. While Ancelotti dealt with routine everyday issues (above all the open question of purpose), Xavi appealed to the deepest, almost mystical essences. “We must have our own DNA, the one that Johan Cruyff instilled in us 30 years ago. That’s right: we strive to be true to Cruyffism,” said the Kule coach.

In this Madrid, in its days of grace (it is seven points ahead of Barca in the league), only one door is open: the gate. The earthly world that remains under the seriously wounded Thibaut Courtois. A problem that grows every week and that Carletto does not publicly address. Kepa’s questionable performance in the semi-final against Atlético Madrid sparked controversy and the manager was reluctant to announce who would reach the final this Saturday. A month ago, the Italian pointed to the Basque goalkeeper as a permanent player, but Lunin’s good performance marked the beginning of the new season. Casting what he gets asked every day. “I see you’re worried about what I’m going to do. “Calm down,” he asked as he appeared at the Al Awwal Park stadium. “Kepa was injured and the substitute deserved to compete. Not because of Kepa’s lack, but because of what Lunin did. Now I can’t choose a starting player and a replacement. The important thing is that they both understand it and have understood it,” stressed Ancelotti, who said Carvajal had recovered from the cramps he suffered on Wednesday.

Bellingham’s “Void”

Above Bellingham Crosses worst scoring streak since he signed with Madrid. A empty three games in a row without goals (Mallorca, Alaves and Atlético), an insignificant figure for the medium, which gives an idea of ​​​​its scale at the moment. The league match was completely decided by him after a very bad hour for White. “The start was not very good, especially defensively. “We must take into account the composition of the opponent, which can change our approach to the game,” said, without going into detail, the player from Reggiolo, who this Sunday surpasses Zinedine Zidane in the number of coaching games at the club (they are now tied with 263), only behind the impossible: Miguel Muñoz (605). And if he lifts the trophy, he will also reach it in titles (11), three behind Munoz.

Xavi was also unwilling to give any clues on whether he would have three or four midfielders, and whether he would again use Araujo on the right flank to handcuff Vinicius, the best remedy found so far for the Brazilian’s fan base. Nobody stopped him more times than the Uruguayan. But in searching for the essence of Barcelona, ​​all eyes are on Pedri. He endured a physical test in the final half hour of the match against Osasuna and his team’s performance rewarded him for it. In a team that sometimes seems disjointed, the presence and consistency of the Tenerife player seem to be key to the culé’s performance. The midfielder has missed 15 full games this season due to health problems.

Although if Barça is looking at the history of the last Super Cup final as an emotional lever, this time they will be without Gavi, the key player of that night who caused so much damage to Madrid on the January slope and a renewed Ancelotti today. Yes, he will have Lewandowski, buoyed by his goal against Rojillo in a campaign that was inferior to the previous one: 11 goals this year and 19 the previous one at this stage of the season.

Florentino and Laporta together

Saudi Arabian Super Cup in exile will once again bring together Florentino Perez and Joan Laporta in the box – a regular photo that disappeared after the explosion Negreira case. In the last three official classic matches played in Barcelona, ​​the Madrid leader was not present. He also wasn’t at the preseason tournament in Dallas. The arbitration scandal flared up again recently after the publication of new information about judicial investigations, but the two presidents will share a seat at the stadium. This Saturday they have already done so at a reception that the Spanish Embassy in Riyadh organized for the two clubs and the Federation President Pedro Rocha.

The darkest cloud that currently hangs over Spanish football is the appearance of the two referees in the final: Martinez Munuera (field) and Soto Grado (VAR), appearing only on very important appointments, in which nothing was said about hands or penalties. Only from The Negreira case “This is getting to a personal level,” Munuera condemned. “You go to the supermarket and there are people calling you corrupt. You walk with your wife and son and you have to look back to see what kind of person he is.” For Soto Grado, who has accused the press of criticizing fans, the issue is “boiling in his blood.” “Those of us here are not corrupt. This is exactly the person if the court decides so.”

Everyone spoke out in distant Riyadh before the fight, which will leave a new image. Nacho or Sergi Roberto, the first captains of their teams, lifting the trophy for the first time. Two low profiles that require attention to the first course title.

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