by In the end, Barcelona just wanted to go home, no hope had long since left them. Real Madrid would have happily stayed there for a bit longer: playing first, which they did so well here, and then celebrating their success. Vinícius Júnior scored a hat-trick in the first half to help them beat Barcelona and the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, which was a disaster.
Only three players have scored a clasico hat-trick this century – Luis Suárez, Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema – and not even Cristiano Ronaldo, which did not stop Vinícius from paying tribute. At Al Awwal Park, he celebrated his goals as Portugal advanced, a nod to history on the night he scored his own. For Jude Bellingham this was also significant, his first trophy at Madrid. It won’t be his last. It probably won’t be his last this season. He might have expected this; maybe he didn’t expect it to be so easy, so soon.
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If that beginning was surprising, it could not be written off as chance, or as some freak occurrence; it was just a more severe manifestation of a recurring problem, a repeated system failure at the worst moment and with the worst opposition. Against Granada, Barcelona conceded the first goal after 17 seconds, against Alaves it came on 18, and in Antwerp after 75. They let in the first one in the eighth minute against Mallorca, the 12th against Girona, the ninth against Las Palmas, and the 19th against Celta Vigo. Porto and Shakhtar got the opening goal against them in the first half.
Here, they were one down before the clock hit seven and two down before they had played 10 minutes. They conceded a third before half-time, the hope Robert Lewandowski’s goal brought, zoned between the second and third, quickly proved to be a mirage.
With Andreas Christensen leaving the defensive line to join Frenkie de Jong as he closed down, Jude Bellingham’s left-footed pass into space, just beyond a hesitant Jules Koundé forward, was met for Vinícius to race through for the first. Alone, he went around Iñaki Peña, rolled the ball into the net, jumped into the hand and made Siuuu in Ronaldo’s new home.
The final ‘u’ was barely gone when he scored the second, Dani Carvajal releasing Rodrygo, who swung up the right wing and flicked the ball across the six-yard box for Vinícius to slide in and score. Another Ronaldo clasico celebration followed, this time focused on the crest and the turf.
That was Madrid’s third one already and there would be more. Barcelona were wide open, chaotic and unable to exercise any proper control. Even if they had moments of possession, every time they lost it again, they looked vulnerable and exposed, and they were killed. It is quite risky to play this high against anyone; to do so against Madrid and without Gavi is reckless.
And if Barcelona were entitled to believe there might have been a chance when Ferland Mendy’s header fell from the sky and Lewandowski connected with a clean, hard volley – of their 41 points in the league this season they had won 27 in the last quarter. the clock – those comebacks were not against Madrid and hope was soon dashed. Ronald Araújo brought Vinícius to the floor and the Brazilian managed to score the penalty to make it 3-1 before half-time.
Barcelona now needed something special and Pedri flashed a shot over the post just before the break, but nothing came of it before he gave up. Having recently returned from injury, someone to hold on to, he left on the hour – and by then Barcelona had yet to muster another significant shot. Madrid were comfortable enough for a flash of fun from time to time, much to the delight of the supporters here than Carlo Ancelotti, and to wait for their moments, in no rush at all. No doubt, either. Bellingham was walking through this game, the looks and physicality were unmatched.
The fourth goal just after the hour. Deep into the area Vinícius was looking for the Englishman but Koundé cut out the pass and it fell instead to Rodrygo, who finished.
It was not possible for Barcelona to completely lose their composure, to limit the damage, which was already bad enough – and all the more so when Araújo was sent off soon after. Madrid wasn’t done yet, or it didn’t want to be. They were enjoying this now, being thrust into excess, with ease, it must have even surprised them. Aurélien Tchouaméni released Bellingham’s pass, which Peña denied. Then a great run from Brahim Díaz carried him through, the ball finally fell to Bellingham, who turned from his man, beat Peña, and watch the ball cleared off the line by Koundé, Fede Valverde smashing it just wide. There were no more goals, but this was finished; it was almost from the beginning.
