Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia: faint-hearted Royals succumb to final expert Flick

HNowadays everything is captured on camera, including: the stone face of Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez as he left the King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah. Or: that he could do something different on Sunday evening. For example, when he smiled and extended his hand of congratulations to the German coach of the victorious FC Barcelona, ​​Hansi Flick, on the podium of the Spanish Super Cup and patted him on the cheek like a Caesar.

It is often said in Madrid that the civil engineer Pérez would also like to have a German coach for Real; If possible, someone like Flick, who seems incapable of losing finals. The former national coach has so far won eight of eight finals with FC Bayern and Barcelona. Apparently Pérez can’t get the name Jürgen Klopp, currently employed at Red Bull, out of his head, even though he has a coach in Xabi Alonso who trained at Leverkusen in Germany. Alonso, however, has only been making progress from game to game at Real for some time now. “Xabi’s agony continues,” wrote The Newspaper on Monday and speculated that this would continue: “Until Florentino tires of a football that causes ulcers rather than joy among (Real’s) supporters.”

Whether this is generally true remains to be seen. But goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois wasn’t the only one wondering whether Real had now taken a step forward after the 2-3 defeat against Barcelona in Saudi Arabia, which almost resulted in a last-minute equalizer and thus a penalty shootout. One of the bright spots of the evening was that striker Vinícius Jr. scored his first goal since November after an impressive solo across half the pitch to make it 1-1. However, the criticism was that Alonso’s satisfaction at having kept up with Barça hardly did justice to Real’s grandeur. And that he borrowed from his former coach José Mourinho because of a series of failures (and doubts about the performance of Kylian Mbappé, who was a late substitute).

Because this time Madrid defended itself so deeply and meekly that the rapporteur from The Sports World from Barcelona was reminded of a cup trip in mid-December: Real “played like Guadalajara,” a fifth-tier club that lost 2-0 to Barça. In the Arabian desert, the game only broke out after Raphinha took the lead for Barcelona (36′) and escalated into stoppage time in the first half, which became longer and longer because the referee added a minute to each goal: After the aforementioned counter-attack goal by Vinícius (45’+2), Robert Lewandowski scored for Barcelona (45’+4) and Gonzalo (45’+7) to make the score 2-2 at half-time. The winning goal was once again scored by the outstanding Raphinha, who immediately thanked Hansi Flick.

Barcelona’s match winner Raphinha thanks his coach for his trust

The Brazilian recalled how he was “as good as gone” in the summer of 2024 after a disappointing season: “But then Hansi called me and told me that he wanted me in his team. That’s what a player expects from a coach: to get so much trust that you can do your job without caring what people say,” explained Raphinha.

What he actually cares about is the internal company climate. Raphinha did not accept the new and beautifully designed silver trophy, although he wore the captain’s armband after Frenkie de Jong was sent off (90th + 1). Raphinha instead passed the task on to Ronald Araújo, who was substituted late but wisely by Flick and who had taken a break of more than a month due to mental problems. Barça President Joan Laporta was moved to tears: “Hansi’s gesture of letting Ronald play a few minutes in the final against Real Madrid was extraordinary – and part of a great script.”

What the next script will look like is unclear; to be precise, the stage for the next Spanish Super Cup has not even been named. The contract signed by the Spanish association RFEF in 2019 runs until 2029, but there must be an alternative location next year. Because Saudi Arabia will host the Asia Cup at the beginning of 2027 (January 7th to February 5th).

The format that has been in place for several years – a four-team tournament in which the two cup finalists and the two best-placed teams from the previous league season take part – is guaranteed to be very attractive and emotional. A Classic with illustrious names like Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal or Raphinha is basically guaranteed; and this time in the semi-final there was a Madrid derby between Atlético and Real, which escalated in a similar way to the final. Unlike the Italian Supercup, whose final between Napoli and Bologna (2-0) recently attracted just 18,000 people, the stands at the Spanish Supercup were full and the spectators were thrilled.

This would probably also be guaranteed in other countries or – to bring a completely crazy idea into play – in Spain itself. But Saudi Arabia is making this Spanish Super Cup cost 40 million euros per year. On the one hand, this is an amount that helped Spain’s association to sit out the debates about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, it is also a sum that no other player in the global football market is willing to offer.

Although there is speculation about a one-off move to Miami, Spain’s league association has been trying to play a competitive game in the United States for some time. But the preferred alternative location for Spain’s Supercup 2027 is said to be Qatar, which has already bought another party at the end of March: the Very final of the national teams between European champions Spain and Copa America winners Argentina.