Barcelona hammered rivals Real Madrid 5-2 in a wild Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to win the first trophy of the Hansi Flick era.
Kylian Mbappe put Madrid ahead, but a dominant Barcelona hit five in response before their goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off in the second half.
Madrid were hoping to avenge their 4-0 home defeat by Barcelona in October’s La Liga “El Clasico,” but instead were left battered and bruised by their archrivals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Photo: Reuters
After Mbappe’s opener, Lamine Yamal leveled and Robert Lewandowski sent Barcelona ahead from the penalty spot, with Raphinha bagging a brace and Alejandro Balde also on target.
Rodrygo Goes pulled one back for Madrid with a free-kick, but they could not capitalize further on their numerical advantage in a humiliating defeat for the European champions.
“It’s really nice, it had been a season since we won a trophy, it’s always special and on top of that in a Clasico against Real Madrid,” Barcelona defender Jules Kounde told Movistar.
Photo: Reuters
“We had a lot of calm and patience, knowing that if we applied the plan we would win,” he said. “I’m very proud and happy with the team... Right after the red card, we got together and said we were going to have to suffer, sit back, but we had a big advantage and this can’t escape us.”
SERIE A
Reuters
Photo: Reuters
SSC Napoli manager Antonio Conte praised the impact of Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku, both in their first season at the club, after their 2-0 Italian Serie A win over Hellas Verona on Sunday.
Napoli broke the deadlock early on when Giovanni di Lorenzo’s shot hit the post and rebounded off goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo, while Frank Anguissa sealed the victory with a powerful long-range shot.
Conte said he is still trying to find the right tactics to suit his squad, even as they secured a fifth successive league win, but that the new signings were integral in helping Napoli lead the standings by four points ahead of Inter.
Photo: AFP
FA CUP
Reuters, LONDON
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim said his team are still improving, as Sunday’s dramatic FA Cup penalty shootout victory over Arsenal points to a more positive future after a difficult start to life at Old Trafford.
United fans have experienced several false dawns in recent seasons, with development under Amorim’s predecessors Erik ten Hag and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer largely a case of one step forward and two steps back.
Amorim might have wondered if he had taken on a poisoned chalice when a three-game unbeaten run to begin his reign was followed by a woeful run of results, with an unlikely victory over Manchester City in the middle.
However, having outperformed expectations with a brilliant display against Liverpool last weekend, United followed that up at Arsenal to keep their FA Cup defense alive.
Second-choice goalkeeper Altay Bayindir and forward Joshua Zirkzee were ultimately United’s heroes on Sunday after recent criticism.
Zirkzee was booed off as a first-half substitute in last month’s defeat to Newcastle United, while Bayindir was blamed for United’s League Cup exit against Tottenham Hotspur.
However, both were key contributors to United’s third round win, where they were reduced to 10 men, which Amorim said was a lesson for his squad.
“Your life as a footballer has cycles and moments, and sometimes in one week your life can change,” he said.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
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TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
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