Barcelona’s title drought without Lionel Messi is finally over.
Revisiting the land he last coached in and cut his milk teeth as a manager prior to his return to Camp Nou as the manager, Xavi Hernandez led a Barcelona team starved of titles after the departure of their talisman Messi when the Blaugranas finally emerged victorious over bitter rivals Real Madrid on Sunday to win the Spanish Super Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Barcelona were finally able to strut their colors again with some measure of pride as they defeated Real Madrid 3-1 on Sunday to give their fans reason to celebrate again after a giddy squad revamping process – made all the more challenging with the club long plagued with massive financial woes – that began following Messi’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain and the arrival of former player-cum-captain Xavi as coach in 2021.
“We’ve been through some tough years, with financial difficulties, Messi’s departure …” Xavi said.
“It was not easy to bring back a positive dynamic. This will help give us some tranquility. We’ve been working hard from the beginning despite all the criticism, and we have to keep working.”
The last trophy that Barcelona had lifted was the 2021 Copa del Rey under then coach Ronald Koeman, which was Messi’s 35th and final title with Barcelona before leaving amid the club’s catastrophic financial struggles.
The 3 goals scored in the final at King Fahd Stadium to give Barcelona their first Super Cup trophy since 2018 — and their 14th overall – came courtesy of Robert Lewandowski, Gavi and Pedri. This was also their first since the tournament began being played in a Final Four format in 2020 in a lucrative deal for the Spanish soccer federation.
It was the youngster Gavi who opened the scoring in the 33rd minute from close range after a pass by Lewandowski, who then doubled the lead after an assist by Gavi in a breakaway just before the end of the first half. The latter was also instrumental in setting up Pedri’s close-range goal in the 69th.
Karim Benzema scored for Loa Blancos late in stoppage time.
“We knew we couldn’t miss this opportunity,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets said. “We’ve been going through changes at the club and I think this triumph will make us stronger and allow us to keep competing, keep growing and keep fighting for titles.
“It’s clear that at Barça you always have to win,” Busquets said. “We knew it was going to be like that after Xavi arrived, and now we finally have been able to do it.”
Despite having beaten Barcelona 3-1 at home in the first “clásico” of the season in October last year, Madrid were trying their level best to win their second consecutive Super Cup title in Saudi Arabia and equal Barcelona’s record of 13 Super Cup trophies.
“It’s a tough loss and we have to learn from it,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
“We will improve and bounce back from it.”