Barcelona defeated Real Betis in a penalty shootout to set up a Supercopa de Espana final against arch rivals Real Madrid.
After extra time, the game was tied at 2-2. Marc-Andre ter Stegen saved 2 penalties in the shootout to win his side.
Barcelona dominated the early exchanges, with over 80% of the ball going to them in the first 20 minutes. Gavi and Pedri ruled the game.
Pedri, one of the two, had the ball in the back of Pedri’s net in the 23rd minutes after he grabbed a delicate chipped pass from Raphinha in the penalty area to steer it past Claudio Bravo. Raphinha was adjudged offside after a quick VAR inspection.
Betis seemed to be awakened by the offside goal in the final third. They would make their first real attempt on goal shortly thereafter. German Pezzella was the one to score, and he headed a Nabil Fekir near post corner kick goalward. Marc André ter Stegen was able get down well and clear the ball.
Robert Lewandowski (who is it? ) would break the deadlock for Barca in the 40th minute. The ex-Bayern man was then played through on goal by Dembele’s slide-through ball. He scored his goal after his first attempt was blocked.
Real Betis didn’t let that stop them though, as they continued to push forward in search for a goal. They almost had it through Luis Enrique right before half-time. He forced ter Stegen into an incredible save with his first attempt from within the penalty box.
La Blaugrana almost made it 2-0 in the second half, when Jordi Albi curled a brilliantly low cross into the box. Raphinha was the next to make a wild swing at the cross, but Lewandowski, who was unmarked, was first.
The remainder of the half was quite a non-event. Neither player looked capable nor bothered to score the second goal.
Nabil Fekir would score the second goal in the final 15 minutes of the match (in the 77th minute). After some neat holding play by Henrique within the Barca penalty box, the French forward would make it 1-0 when he drilled the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
Barca thought that they were back on top three minutes later as Lewandowski side-footed a ball into the bottom left corner of the net after some good play on the flank by Ferran Torres. However, Torres was found offside during the build-up, so the score would remain at 1-1 and the game would continue into extra time.
Barca scored almost immediately after extra time had expired.
Substitute Ansu Fati sat and watched as a deflected crossing looped high above the penalty area all the while. He then volleyed magnificently into the bottom left corner with just one swing.
Amazingly, Real Betis managed to draw level in the 100th minutes in the most daring of ways. Loren Moron scored the goal by controlling a cross into Henrique’s midriff and holding off Araujo, before backheeling past his marker and ter Stegen to make it 2-2.
The only action of the second half of extra time ended up being Andrés Guardado receiving his second yellow card having only come on the dying embers of normal time.
Willian Jose and Lewandowski, Moron and Kessie would coolly convert spot kicks in penalty shootout before Juanmi would record their first miss.
Ansu Fati would make the most of Barca’s shootout lead to save William Carvalho’s penalty.
Pedri was then hero because he converted his penalty in order to help Barca into Supercopa de Espana final.
GK – Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 8/10 – Although he made some good saves in the first period, he was ultimately beaten at his near post in the 77th. Two penalties were saved in the shootout.
RB – Sergi Roberto – 5/10 – The night’s captain put in a typical’meh” performance.
CB – Ronald Araujo – 4/10 – Occasionally looked very uncomfortable on the ball.
CB – Jules Kounde – 5/10 – It was okay in the first hour, but not so good after that.
LB – Jordi Alba – 8/10 – Best player on pitch. Excellent in both his defensive third and the final third.
CM – Gavi – 6/10 – Some nice touches on this ball, but not as creative as Xavi would have liked.
CM – Frenkie de Jong – 7/10 – You controlled the pace of play well.
CM – Pedri – 7/10 – Scored an offside goal during the first half, and was very tidy in possession throughout the evening.
RW – Raphinha – 4/10 – This evening was not exactly at the races… to put it mildly.
ST – Robert Lewandowski – 6/10 Although I looked rusty, I was able to score.
LW – Ousmane Dembele – 7/10 – Lively was on the left flank, and his incisive run earned him the opener.
SUB – Sergio Busquets 4/10 – The slowing down of Barcelona’s playdown was too much and it cost them dearly in normal time.
SUB – Ferran Torres – N/A.
SUB – Marcos Alonso – N/A.
SUB – Andreas Christensen – N/A.
SUB – Ansu Fati – 7/10 – Extra time: A fantastic goal!
SUB – Franck Kessie – N/A.