Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has heaped praises on his players following the 3-2 victory over Real Madrid to win the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Raphinha scored a brace, and Robert Lewandowski scored the other goal while Vinicius Junior, and Gonzalo Garcia were on target for Real Madrid.
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Frenkie de Jong was shown a straight red card in stoppage time after lunging in on Kylian Mbappe.
The German manager said the team played the way he wanted, describing their performance as impressive.
Flick said: “It’s excellent, it was an important final, against Real Madrid it’s always excellent. I’m proud, we played the way we wanted.
“I wasn’t in the dressing room, they’re celebrating now and I only saw them dancing. I’m very proud, we played very well, keeping possession and controlling the game. And in the end, the whole team played the way we like, it wasn’t easy and we fought as a team, it’s impressive.”
The former Bayern Munich coach also reserved special praises for Raphinha for his match-winning performance in the encounter.
Flick said: “His mentality is impressive, and we have others like him too; he influences the whole team.
“He missed the first chance but took advantage of the second and gave us confidence. We were under a lot of pressure, as you saw.”
Flick has now won four trophies as manager of Barcelona and will be gunning for more in the second half of the 2025-26 campaign.
He has now won all eight finals he has been involved in, including five with Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid coach, Xabi Alonso, said the team must turn the page following the defeat to Barcelona.
He said: “Well, we have to turn the page as soon as possible, it’s a game, it’s a competition.
“We have to look forward, try to recover people, recover the state of mind and move forward.
“It hurts in any way, it was an even match, very competitive, exciting.
“You have the taste that the last two chances we had were so clear, we were close to equalising and in the end we congratulate Barca.
“A lot happened in those last 15 minutes. We had controlled well, without the ball, but we had the two clearest chances, we conceded the first goal.
“But the team showed its face. We went 2-2 and the second half was competitive. With nothing they were lucky in the goal, and we tried to equalise, but it was not to be.”
Barcelona have now defeated Real Madrid in three consecutive finals for the first time in their history, after back-to-back Supercopa victories and a Copa del Rey win.
Barcelona have now won 10 games in a row, last suffering defeat in November when they lost to Chelsea in the Champions League.
They have not lost to Spanish opposition since 26 October when Real beat them in the El Clasico at the Bernabeu.
Up next for Barcelona is a Copa del Rey clash against Racing Santander while Real Madrid will take on Albacete in the round of 16 on Wednesday.