Spanish Super Cup 2025: Saudi Arabia delivers another Clásico to remember | OneFootball

The scene was set for another spectacular Clásico in Saudi Arabia even before a ball was kicked in the 2025 Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday.

A dazzling pre-match show – involving fireworks, choreographed lights, and a drone display projecting the Real Madrid and Barcelona logos into the night sky above King Abdullah Sports City – laid down an impressive marker. The crowd inside the packed 60,000-capacity stadium in Jeddah had already reached fever pitch, the noise piercing and deafening.

All that was needed was a good game of football – and boy, did it deliver. Saudi Arabia has created a welcome habit of staging memorable Clásicos since assuming Super Cup hosting duties in 2020, but even by the Kingdom’s previous high standards, this was something else.

Barcelona took immediate control from kick-off, with teenage sensation Lamine Yamal in particular looking in the mood to wreak havoc on their arch-rivals. The Catalans could have been 2-0 up inside the opening few minutes, parity only retained thanks to two fine saves from Real Madrid wall Thibaut Courtois.

Yet, it was Madrid who struck first, a lightning-fast counter-attack ending with Kylian Mbappé firing in a trademark finish. From a Barcelona corner, it took less than 10 seconds for the French forward to open the scoring and send the Madrid fans into raptures.

With only five minutes on the clock, more action had been packed in than many regular games. It was breathless and relentless; it was what we’ve come to expect from El Clásico, the world’s most famous football rivalry that had seen 21 goals scored in the previous five fixtures.

Leading against the run of play (if such a term can be used after just five minutes), Real Madrid had set themselves up to exact a measure of revenge for the 4-0 thrashing by Barca in LaLiga less than three months ago.

Barcelona had other ideas, though, and their constant pressure soon told when Yamal levelled with a well-placed finish 17 minutes later. Cue the floodgates as a Robert Lewandowski penalty, a Raphinha header from a delightful deep cross by Jules Koundé, and an Alejandro Baldé goal deep in first-half injury time sent Barça into the break leading 4-1 and Real Madrid staggering.

As brilliant was Barcelona were, Real were rudderless, the lack of cohesion that cost them so dearly against their rivals back in October reared its ugly head again in Jeddah.

Once Raphinha struck his second soon after the interval, any chance of an unlikely Madrid fightback was extinguished. Even a red card for Barça goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and a second Real Madrid goal from Rodrygo a few minutes later on the hour mark failed to alter the outcome beyond what this game deserved: a rampant Barcelona victory.

After losing four straight Clásicos, Barça have now won the last two by an aggregate score of 9-2, while winning the Super Cup for a record-extending 15th time to keep Real Madrid, locked on 13, at arm’s length.

It was a fitting end to a spectacular festival of football that drew record attendances, both for Sunday’s final and combined across the three matches, since the Spanish Super Cup moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020.

The final hosted a crowd of 56,818 from 135 different countries, with 3,693 women in attendance. The first semi-final between Barcelona and Athletic Club attracted 36,342 fans from 107 countries, including 2,544 women, while the second semi-final involving Real Madrid and Mallorca saw a crowd of 47,045 fans from 122 countries of which 4,234 were women. In total, the Spanish Super Cup welcomed 140,205 fans through the gates, including 10,471 women.

For the fourth consecutive year, Saudi Arabia witnessed a Clásico deserving of the rivalry’s reputation. In 2022, Real Madrid edged Barcelona 3-2 after extra-time in the semi-finals; 2023 saw Barcelona lift the trophy with a 3-0 win, and last year a Vinicius Junior hat-trick fired Real to the title. Few would dispute that the 2025 showdown topped the lot.

As Barcelona and Real Madrid return to Spain to resume domestic duties, the countdown has already begun until these two great clubs return to Saudi Arabia for their next duel in the desert.

📸 HAITHAM AL-SHUKAIRI - AFP or Licensors