Americans Diego Kochen, Pedro Soma and Adrian Simon Gill share their reports on transfers and bets on Barcelona’s youth with Luis García. (3:41)
Real Madrid beat Mallorca and Barcelona comfortably beat Athletic Club to set up a Clasico showdown in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday (2 p. m. ET, live stream on ESPN+, USA).
It’s the third season in a row Madrid and Barça have met at this stage, with the previous winners going on to secure the LaLiga title — Barça in 2023 and Madrid last year. Xavi Hernández, Barça’s coach at the time two years ago, even spoke about the confidence which came from beating Madrid in the Supercopa.
Both groups have had up-and-down seasons, but they go into Sunday’s game in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in good shape and with all their stars in attack. For Madrid, there are signs that Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham are doing well. At Barça, Lamine Yamal returns from injury to sign Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski. Dani Olmo is also available after the registration fiasco that made him lose the semi-final. – Sam Marsden
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Real Madrid’s 4-0 defeat in October at the Bernabéu was the pinnacle of Barcelona’s good form earlier in the season. It is a triumph for Hansi Flick’s high-risk line and a surprise for the Madrid system, causing a mini-crisis for the whites. But he also won – despite the score – by very narrow margins. If Madrid, and especially Kylian Mbappé, had been a little more clinical and exploited Barça’s defense with more precision, the result could have been very different.
Madrid had multiple chances to score, denied by either poor finishing or the offside flag, before Robert Lewandowski hit the target in the 54th minute. Two minutes later, Lewandowski grabbed a second goal, and it was effectively game over. By the time Lamine Yamal and Raphinha had chipped in late on, the scoreline suggested a rout, but that wasn’t reflective of the balance of play over 90 minutes.
All that suggests that there’s no guarantee of a repeat. And we’ve seen in recent years that big Clásico wins aren’t necessarily predictive of the next meeting, or the season as a whole. As precedents go, Madrid would prefer to look to the last Supercopa, in January 2024, when Vinícius Júnior’s hat trick inspired a comprehensive 4-1 Madrid victory. — Alex Kirkland
Real Madrid: Carlo Ancelotti’s side already have two trophies in the bag for 2024-25: the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. They’re looking to add a third in Jeddah, and that’s with a team that is yet to truly find its rhythm.
Madrid started the season slowly — draws at Mallorca and Las Palmas in August showed a concerning lack of cohesion — and there have been some high-profile defeats along the way, notably to Lille, AC Milan and Liverpool in the Champions League, and that home thrashing from Barça. There’s been criticism of Mbappé, and injuries, especially to Dani Carvajal, have weakened the team.
But overall, the trend is one of gradual improvement. Jude Bellingham has been the star — his all-round game is now arguably even better than last season’s heroics — with Vinícius Júnior not far behind. Mbappé’s rate of goal scoring has improved, even if he hasn’t hit top form yet. The weak link is the defence, and especially the full-backs, with Lucas Vázquez struggling to replace Carvajal’s defensive output. — Kirkland
Barcelona: Barcelona’s season can be broken down into two parts: before November and after November. Before November, they won 12 of 14 games, scoring four or more goals in seven of those matches, including in wins against Madrid and Bayern Munich. Since November, they have won seven out of 13 games and lost five, including shock home defeats against Las Palmas and Leganés.
Various reasons have been offered for their dip. Raphinha suggested there was some fatigue, Lewandowski has talked about the team’s mentality in the “smaller” games and there was a period when they were without Yamal. Opposition players and coaches have also spoken about how they successfully targeted Barça’s high defensive line, which yielded such devastating results for them earlier in the season.
Beating Madrid, after back-to-back victories in early 2025 over Barbastro and Athletic Club, will fuel the feeling that the milestone of what Flick has called a “shitty November” has been passed. -Marsden
Mbappé vs. the Barcelona defence: Mbappé was caught offside a career-high eight times — six of them in the first half — when the two teams met in October. And when he wasn’t offside, his finishing was wayward. But that slump came in the midst of a dry spell of seven games with just one goal.
Since then, Mbappé has scored with greater regularity, scoring in 4 consecutive games in December. He has also scored in Madrid’s two finals in 2024-25, against Pachuca and Atalanta. A great performance against Barça on Sunday would be the highlight of his season and the decisive ‘I am him’ moment that everyone was waiting for. –Kirkland
Yamal showed no signs of the aftermath of an ankle injury when he returned to score the second goal in Wednesday’s semi-final against Athletic. Ferland Mendy knows all too well the risk posed by the 17-year-old, having been stunned by him at the Bernabeu in October. The war between the two could end this match.
Yamal’s numbers may not be as impressive as those of Raphinha and Lewandowski (although he has still scored seven goals and provided 12 assists this season), but Barca are better when he’s on the pitch. He has started 20 games this season and Barca have won 17. He demands attention on the right and, if he does not mark or give assistance, he creates more space for others. -Marsden
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Real Madrid 3-2 Barcelona. They will be goals. In any of the finals. Even against Mallorca in the semi-finals, Madrid looked vulnerable at times and Barcelona’s defense is not as strong as it used to be. It will depend on which team is more clinical. Bellingham is still expected to play. and Vini Jr. will have something to prove, after being dissatisfied with being substituted towards the end of the match against Mallorca. It will be fun. — Kirkland
Real Madrid – Barcelona 1-3. It’s hard to disagree with Alex that there will be goals. The first will be crucial. If Barça can do that, it will force Madrid to be more open than they otherwise would be. If Madrid achieves it, Barça is used to chasing games earlier than necessary. Therefore, I think it will reflect the last two finals between the teams, whoever scores. The first one will end up winning comfortably. I just don’t know who. – Marsden
Real Madrid -125, Barcelona -105 (at time of publication)
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