Sports

Barcelona thrash Real Madrid 5-2 in Spanish Super Cup

Published

2 months ago

January 13, 2025

Barcelona thrash Real Madrid 5-2 in Spanish Super Cup

Barcelona came from an early goal down to beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday, scoring four goals in a dominant first half and surviving having their goalkeeper sent off to clinch a record-extending 15th trophy.

Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Alejandro Balde were all on target before halftime, after French forward Kylian Mbappe put Real in front in the fifth minute. Raphinha grabbed another in the second half while Rodrygo scored for Real.

Barcelona put in a clinical display to lift their first trophy in more than a year, having no silverware to show for last season.

“A goal for big clubs is always to win titles, that’s why we work hard. But now we have to show it in the next games,” Hansi Flick told a press conference after winning his first trophy as Barca coach.

“Real made many mistakes, and we knew how to take advantage of them to control the match.”

Barca prevented Real from winning their third title of the campaign, after they won the European Super Cup against Atalanta and beat Mexico’s Pachuca to the Intercontinental Cup last month.

“In the first half we didn’t play football, we hit long balls and that wasn’t the idea,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said.

“I told the players that they can lose games, but not in the way we played in the first half.”

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Mbappe earned an early advantage for the Spanish champions, finishing a solo run from around the halfway line with a shot inside the far post.

But what looked like a dream start quickly turned into a nightmare for Ancelotti’s men when Yamal levelled for Barca in the 22nd minute. Striker Lewandowski gave them the lead 14 minutes later from a penalty awarded for Eduardo Camavinga’s foul on Gavi.

Raphinha increased the advantage with a stunning header from a brilliant long cross by Jules Kounde in the 39th minute, and left back Balde added a fourth for Barca deep into stoppage time after nine minutes were added to the first half.

Yamal released Raphinha with a precise pass following Real’s miserable corner kick, before the Brazil forward left the ball to Balde who scored with a simple finish to restore Barcelona’s healthy lead.

Real started the second half with Rodrygo hitting the bar, sparking hopes of the hectic clash taking another turn.
But Raphinha quelled any sniff of a comeback when he made it 5-1 three minutes after the break, having slalomed past the Real defence.

Barca were left with 10 men when goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off for fouling Mbappe in the 56th minute and Rodrygo beat substitute keeper Inaki Pena from the resulting free kick.

But Real, who hold a five-point advantage over Barca in LaLiga after 19 games, had no shots on goal after the penalty until Mbappe’s effort was denied by Pena in stoppage time.

Barcelona also lost defender Inigo Martinez before the half-hour mark through injury, with Ronald Araujo stepping in.

Barcelona and Real met in the competition’s final for third consecutive time, with Ancelotti’s side prevailing last year while Barca lifted the trophy in 2023.

Barcelona booked their spot in the final by winning 2-0 against current Spanish Cup holders Athletic Bilbao in the semi-finals before Real beat last year’s Copa del Rey finalists Mallorca 3-0.

Barcelona thrash Real Madrid 5-2 in Spanish Super Cup

Sports

Real Madrid beat Atletico after bizarre penalty disallowed

Published

19 hours ago

March 13, 2025

Trends Admin

Real Madrid beat Atletico after bizarre penalty disallowed

Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had a penalty dramatically ruled out in the shootout as Real Madrid edged out their city rivals to reach the quarter-finals.

They will face Arsenal in the last eight, having kept alive their hopes of winning a record-extending 16th Champions League trophy.

Neither side could find a winning goal before the end of extra time after Conor Gallagher’s strike – just 27 seconds into the game – had levelled the tie on aggregate after Real Madrid’s 2-1 first-leg win.

That meant penalties were needed to determine the outcome and, after the first three had been converted, former Manchester City forward Alvarez stepped up to take Atletico’s second.

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He slipped while taking it, but the ball ended up in the back of the net. While it was initially given, the successful spot-kick was subsequently ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR), with Alvarez having been deemed to have touched the ball twice as he struck his effort.

Fede Valverde converted his penalty to put Real 3-1 ahead and although Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vazquez’s spot-kick to briefly give Atletico hope, Marcos Llorente hit the bar.

Antonio Rudiger then stepped up to squeeze home the decisive penalty to send Real Madrid through by a 4-2 margin.

Real Madrid beat Atletico after bizarre penalty disallowed

Sports

Amaju Pinnick loses FIFA council seat, Patrice Motsepe leads CAF again

Published

2 days ago

March 12, 2025

Trends Admin

Amaju Pinnick loses FIFA council seat, Patrice Motsepe leads CAF again

Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has lost his re-election into the FIFA council.

But South African Patrice Motsepe was re-elected unopposed as the President of Confederation of African Football (CAF), to serve a second four-year term.

Pinnick could not secure the required votes to earn one of the six membership positions for Africa on the council.

The former NFF president scored 28 votes in the election held at the 14th CAF extraordinary general assembly on Wednesday in Cairo, Egypt.

Elected members are Faouzi Lekjaa of Morocco, Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya, Kanizat Ibrahim of Comoros, Djibouti’s Souleiman Waberi, Hamidou Djibrilla of Niger and Egypt’s Hani Abo Rida.

Pinnick had just one vote less than Yahya and Waberi who clinched the final two slots.

Motsepe secured a second term during CAF’s extraordinary general assembly held in Cairo on Wednesday, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in attendance.

He was elected by acclamation in Morocco four years ago, succeeding Malagasy Ahmad Ahmad, who had been suspended by FIFA over financial misconduct.

Sports

Man United to build £2bn 100,000-spectator capacity stadium

Published

2 days ago

March 11, 2025

Trends Admin

Man United to build £2bn 100,000-spectator capacity stadium

Manchester United have announced plans to build the biggest stadium in the UK – an “iconic” new £2bn 100,000-seater ground close to Old Trafford.

Once construction is complete, the club’s existing home is likely to be demolished.

Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he wanted to build the “world’s greatest football stadium”, which the club hopes could be finished in five years.

United’s announcement comes after an extensive consultation process around whether to develop the existing stadium or build a new one.

Old Trafford has been Manchester United’s home since 1910.

The club would continue to play at Old Trafford until the new stadium was ready.

Senior club sources have previously said it would not be cost effective to shrink it for use as a home for United’s women’s and youth teams.

Architects at Foster and Partners, who will design the project, said the new stadium would feature an umbrella design and a new public plaza that is “twice the size of Trafalgar Square”.

The design will feature three masts described as “the trident”, which the architects say will be 200 metres high and visible from 25 miles away.

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Manchester United, currently £1bn in debt, are yet to say how they plan to pay for the stadium. Club chief executive Omar Berrada said it was “a very attractive investment opportunity” and he was “quite confident we’ll find a way to finance the stadium”.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said the development can be financed because income from a “multi-functional stadium will more than outweigh the additional interest costs”.

The stadium will form part of a wider regeneration of the Old Trafford area, predicted to be the biggest such project in the United Kingdom since the transformation of the Stratford area that accompanied the 2012 Olympics in London. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already given government backing to the plans.

United say the entire project has the potential to create 92,000 new jobs, will involve the construction of 17,000 homes and bring an additional 1.8 million visitors to the area annually. They add the project will be worth an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy.

“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest stadium,” said Ratcliffe.

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“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years but it has fallen behind the arenas in world sport.

“I think we may well finish up with the most iconic football stadium in the world.”

He said there was no date in place for when building work on the stadium would begin, adding: “It depends how quickly the Government gets going with the regeneration programme. I think they want to get going quite quickly.”

The stadium will be built using pre-fabrication, shipped in 160 components along the neighbouring Manchester Ship Canal.

Criticism of Old Trafford – England’s biggest club ground with a 74,140 capacity – has grown in recent years, with issues including leaks from the roof of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand.

The stadium has not had significant development since 2006.

United have spoken to senior people involved in the most recent large-scale stadium developments, including the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and the rebuild of Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium, as part of their background work.

They also spoke to local residents and conducted a fan survey to establish whether supporters would prefer a new build or extensive improvements to the present stadium, which was thought likely to cost £1.5bn.

Foster and Partners designed the new Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2007, and the Lusail Stadium, the venue for the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.