Real Madrid Trash Barca To Win Super Cup

Real Madrid Trash Barca To Win Super Cup

Real Madrid made light of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo by beating bitter rivals Barcelona 2-0 in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup to claim a thumping 5-1 aggregate win.

Ronaldo was slammed with a five-game ban for shoving the referee after he was red-carded in the first leg at the Camp Nou, but Zinedine Zidane’s men showed no signs of weakness as they swept Barca aside with another swashbuckling play.

The victory Wednesday night continues Los Blancos’ incredible run of success under Zidane as they have now lifted seven trophies in the 20 months since the French legend took charge.

The hosts got off to a flier four minutes in when rising star Marco Asensio, just as in the first leg, fired in from distance to beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen in Barca goal.

Barca, without skipper Andres Iniesta, lacked fluidity in their buildup and only threatened sporadically with a volley from Luis Suarez that sailed over the bar and Lionel Messi’s run at goal moments later.

Real soon doubled their lead when Karim Benzema, who was in imperious form on the night, nipped in front of Samuel Umtiti before firing a volley into the bottom corner.

The Catalans came back fighting and talisman Messi was unlucky not to net a consolation goal as he hit the crossbar from a narrow angle, while Suarez headed against the upright with the goal gaping after Keylor Navas had parried Messi’s low shot into his path.

Chants of Campeones rang across the Bernabeu as Madrid moved the ball around in the dying stages, while a bad night for Barca got worse when Suarez hit the turf with an apparent knee injury.