Barcelona overcame their rivals, Athletic Bilbao, and beat them 2-0 to book their place in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia.
The Catalan team entered the match with good feelings after the Supreme Sports Council announced a breakthrough in the crisis of registering the contracts of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, allowing their contracts to be registered as a precautionary measure.
Thus, Barcelona advances to the final match to face the winner of the match between Real Madrid and Real Mallorca, whose identity will be revealed after the end of the match between the two teams on Thursday evening.
According to information received from the Spanish newspaper “El Nacional”, German coach Hansi Flick is happy with the victory over Bilbao and the passage to the final match.
The newspaper added that the German coach considered Barcelona’s qualification to be thanks to the brilliance of the team’s duo, Lamine Yamal and Polish goalkeeper Szczesny, given the excellent level they displayed throughout the match.
Flick praised the performance of these two and commended them, saying, “If it weren’t for you, the team wouldn’t have won tonight.” This was a reference from the coach to the significant role played by Yamal and Szczesny.
The newspaper added that despite his happiness with the victory in tonight’s match, the German coach is angry and concerned about the level and performance of both Lewandowski and Raphinha.
The Catalan attacking duo missed many easy opportunities that could have ended the match completely and with a large scoreline. The German coach warned them against continuing this performance, especially since the team will most likely face Real Madrid in the final match.
In an unexpected development, Barcelona president Laporta went to the team’s locker room immediately after the match and congratulated Barcelona’s talented star, Lamine Yamal, asking him to continue developing and winning the title to please Barcelona fans.
Laporta also did not ignore the disastrous level shown by the team’s trio in tonight’s match and warned Flick against relying on them in the final match so as not to shatter the dreams of the fans of the club in winning the title.
The newspaper pointed out that this trio consists of Lewandowski, who has had a disastrous performance recently; Koundé, who is a clear weak link in the right-back position; and the Dutch player Frenkie de Jong, who almost cost the team a naïve goal immediately after his entry, had it not been for the intervention of VAR technology.