Barcelona’s defence used to be their strength. This season, though, it is perhaps their most glaring weakness, something encapsulated by a miserable performance at the back in their 4-1 Spanish Supercopa final defeat to Real Madrid. Ronald Araujo, uncharacteristically, played chief culprit, giving away a needless penalty and getting himself sent off to conclude a morbid night for the Blaugrana.
Barca turned in a catastrophic first half, as their high defensive line was near suicidal against a pacey Madrid attack. Los Blancos took advantage, as Vincius Jr scored twice in less than two minutes, both goals coming from simple passes behind the Barcelona defence.
Xavi’s side offered something of a response, though. Ferran Torres fired a shot off the crossbar before forcing a duo of neat saves out of Andriy Lunin. Robert Lewandowski then did pull one back after half an hour, driving a volley past Lunin from the edge of the box.
But their defensive issues showed up once again, and it was Araujo who was at fault for the third, pulling Vinicius down inside the box. The penalty, tucked into the bottom corner, was a formality as the Brazil forward completed his hat-trick before half-time.
Things didn’t get any better after the break, as Jules Kounde provided a kind — if inadvertent — layoff for Rodrygo to tucked the ball into the bottom corner for a 4-1 lead.
Araujo capped off the misery in style, clattering Vinicius from behind and earning a foolish second booking, despite his protests. Barca were simply chasing shadows as the minutes wore on, while Xavi cut a miserable figure as he watched his side be torn apart in a damning loss.
GOAL rates Barcelona’s players from the Al-Awwal Stadium in Riyadh…