Carlo Ancelotti knew but then so did everyone else. A Sunday night in Saudi Arabia, 6,600km from home and Real Madrid had just been beaten in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. Not just beaten, broken – and by Barcelona. It had finished 3-1 and the one flattered them. “We’re hurt,” the Madrid coach insisted, “but Madrid will come back.”
They always do: the question was how. Second in La Liga, Madrid’s players had returned from the World Cup and, repeatedly rescued by Thibaut Courtois, needed two goals in the last seven minutes to defeat struggling Valladolid. They then began 2023 with by scraping past fourth-tier Cacereño, 1-0 in the Copa del Rey, before losing 2-1 at Villarreal in the league. They had only reached the Super Cup final on penalties against Valencia, Courtois saving them. And now this, taken apart: Barcelona-Madrid was, one headline had it, a Ferrari against a Twingo.
