Real Madrid humiliated their arch-rivals Barcelona 4-1 in the Spanish Supercopa final with Vinicius Junior hit a brutal first-half hat-trick against a hapless Catalan defence.
It marks Jude Bellingham’s first trophy in Madrid and he got the party started early with a sumptuous ball for Vinicius to chase after peeling off a crazy high Barcelona backline and easily rounding Inaki Pena to score.
The Brazilian star was delighted for dominating the Super Cup final victory against Barcelona, saying: “I’m very happy to have won the trophy today, and with the goals I scored and the way we played. I’d like to thank the physio at home, all the Real Madrid doctors and physiotherapists, my team-mates and the coach and his entire technical team.
“They have shown confidence in me and have given me the peace of mind I need to be at my best today. I’m not at my best yet because I’ve only played three games, but I’m very happy with today’s performance and I want to continue like this.
“The celebration was for Cristiano (Ronaldo), who is my idol and is playing here now. The people of Arabia have shown a lot of love for me and I’m very happy about that. I’m very excited about the match with the team and what we did today. It’s not easy to play against Barcelona and to win 4-1 is very difficult.
“We put in an almost perfect performance, we just needed to not concede that goal from Lewandowski.”
According to tribalfootball.com report, Vinicius also spoke of his on-field discipline.
“The coach helps me and teaches me and I’m learning every day, in every game. I also learn from home by looking at what I do in the games. I want to become a better person, but sometimes because I want to do the best for my team, I end up letting others down, myself and my teammates. I have to improve and continue in this direction.”
“It gets me down. Everything that happens to me ends up in the press because Vini has done this or that. I try my best to remain calm and focused on the game so that I can do my best for my teammates, but sometimes it’s not just me. Of course, I’m not a saint, sometimes I talk too much and dribble when I shouldn’t, but I’m here to improve and to set an example to the kids who are watching me. I want to improve and the coach and my teammates are showing me what I have to do every day,” he stated.
Quite why Xavi set up such a high defensive line against the speedy front two of Vinicius and Rodrygo remains a mystery but the Brazilians took full advantage, sharing three more goals as Barcelona were totally outplayed.
Robert Lewandowski reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a superb volley from the edge of the area but the hope lasted just four minutes before Ronald Araujo, who was later sent off, brought Vinicius down in the area for a penalty that killed the game with five minutes left in the first half.
The only bright spark for Barcelona was Pedri’s long-awaited return from injury but they have the chance to bounce back as they remain in European, cup and league contention while Real Madrid received a La Liga boost without even playing as title rivals Girona dropped points on Sunday.
