Barcelona and Real Madrid meet for the second Clásico of the season in the Spanish Supercopa final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with the first domestic trophy of the campaign up for grabs. (Showing LIVE on ABC)
Holders Barça eased into the final with a thumping 5-0 win against Athletic Club on Wednesday, while Madrid joined them 24 hours later with a nervy 2-1 victory over Atlético Madrid.
It’s the fourth successive year in which the two teams have met at this stage and, while for both clubs it ranks behind LaLiga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey on the list of priorities, it has recently proven a good marker of what is to come in the second half of the season.
The last four winners of the competition — Madrid (2022 and 2024) and Barça (2023 and 2025) — have all used Supercopa success as a springboard to go on to win LaLiga.
ESPN’s Sam Marsden and Alex Kirkland preview the key issues heading into the game at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
Is the Clásico momentum back with Barça again?
Barça bossed Madrid last season, winning all four meetings between the teams as they claimed a domestic treble under Hansi Flick, but the pendulum briefly appeared to have swung back in Madrid’s favor in October when Xabi Alonso, in his first Clásico since taking over as coach, oversaw a 2-1 win which moved Los Blancos five points clear at the top of LaLiga.
However, the tables have already turned since then. While Madrid have blown hot and cold, Barça have racked up nine consecutive wins in all competitions and have established a four point lead at the top of the table. There remains the feeling that they are not playing their very best football — Flick was critical of the performance in last weekend’s 2-0 win at Espanyol — but the five-goal victory over Athletic in midweek was a demonstration of how potent they can be in attack when everything clicks.
It is no coincidence that Barça’s improvement has coincided with the return of key players. Raphinha, who netted twice against Athletic, has added energy and intensity to the front line; Pedri has restored control to the midfield; and Joan García has made some incredible saves when they have been breached at the back. With just long-term absentees Gavi and Andreas Christensen ruled out of Sunday’s game, Barça go into the final not just in their best form of the season, but with a much healthier squad than they have had in months. — Marsden
Alonso has been under pressure. What would defeat, or victory, mean for him?
Madrid coaches are judged on trophies, and this is the first of the season. “It’s the tournament we’re playing, so it’s the most important,” Alonso said on Wednesday, before the semifinal. “Over the season, it’s the fourth [most important trophy] but it’s the one we have right now, so it’s an absolute priority.”
Alonso felt close to being fired after the 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo on Dec. 7. Since then, and the loss to Manchester City that followed, five victories in a row have stabilized his situation somewhat. But in all of those wins — even last weekend’s 5-1 win over Real Betis, and the Supercopa semi against Atletico — the team has been, to a greater or lesser extent, unconvincing.
Last year’s 5-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa final was the beginning of the end for Alonso’s predecessor Carlo Ancelotti. It wasn’t Madrid’s first or last loss to Barça last season, but it was perhaps the most dramatic. The way the game slipped away from them, conceding four goals in a quickfire burst, saw Madrid completely overrun.
In a showpiece final, played in front of an international audience, that was never going to be tolerated by the club. Ancelotti’s eventual departure was inevitable. A similar performance and result on Sunday would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Alonso to recover from. That’s not to say his firing would necessarily be immediate; but it would take a radical second-half-of-the-season shift, and winning major trophies, for Alonso to avoid the same fate. — Kirkland
Kylian Mbappé is back in the Madrid squad. What does his return change?
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Will Kylian Mbappe play vs. Barcelona in Supercopa final?
Gemma Soler and Craig Burley discuss the reports about Kylian Mbappe potentially joining the Real Madrid squad to face Barcelona in Supercopa final.
Coach Alonso dropped the bombshell, almost as an afterthought, in his post-match news conference late on Thursday. “Kylian travels tomorrow,” he said, with a smile. “The feelings are good, and just like any other player, if he’s in the squad, he could play.” Mbappé’s left knee sprain kept him out of Madrid’s first two games of 2026. We don’t know yet exactly what condition he’s in; but if we take Alonso at his word, he’s available on Sunday.
That can only be good news for Real Madrid.
Mbappé is Madrid’s best player. His 29 goals this season attest to that. Yes, 21-year-old Gonzalo García stepped up with a hat trick against Betis last weekend, but against Atlético, the 21-year-old was much quieter, registering not a single shot in 90 minutes. Mbappé will make Madrid more dangerous, and his record against Barcelona — after a rocky start last season, when he was caught offside a career-high eight times in their first meeting — is encouraging.
Mbappé has six goals in five Clásicos. He opened the scoring in last year’s Supercopa final, when, five minutes in, the game briefly appeared to be going Madrid’s way.
Mbappé alone hasn’t made Madrid a good team this season. But in LaLiga, he has scored 44% of the side’s goals. His potential return gives Alonso good reason to smile. — Kirkland
Flick’s blessed attacking headache
For large stretches of this season, Flick’s team has largely picked itself given injuries, but that is no longer the case.
The German coach now has the luxury of choosing from a crop of attacking players who have all delivered at times in recent weeks, which means he is able to call on game-changers off the bench.
It was substitutes Fermín López, Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski who swung the game against Espanyol last week. The bench was not needed against Athletic given Barça were 4-0 up by half-time, but if it was, Flick could have chosen from Olmo, Lewandowski, Marcus Rashford and Lamine Yamal to sharpen things up.
Yamal was only on the bench because of a stomach problem in the build-up to that semifinal. He is expected to return to the team against Madrid. The Spain winger leads the team with 19 goal contributions this season. He is one of six players with more than 10 goal contributions — Rashford, Ferran Torres, Fermín, Raphinha and Lewandowski have all passed that figure too.
So, who will Flick pick for the Clásico? Raphinha and Yamal are most likely to start wide, with Ferran and Lewandowski competing for the No. 9 role and either Fermín or Olmo just behind them. Raphinha has also played that No. 10 role at times, too, allowing Rashford to start on the left.
Flick’s wealth of options will keep Alonso guessing right up until kick off. — Marsden
Can Madrid’s makeshift defense cope?
For the last 20 minutes against Atlético, as they defended a precarious 2-1 lead, Madrid’s backline read as follows: Federico Valverde, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Álvaro Carreras, Ferland Mendy. Or in other words: a midfielder, another midfielder, a left-back playing centre-back, and a perennially injured left-back, making his third appearance of the season. Somehow, it worked, and Madrid held on for the win. But it wasn’t exactly encouraging ahead of a Clásico where Madrid’s defense will have to deal with Raphinha, Yamal et al.
Antonio Rüdiger, who had pushed to play on Thursday despite an injury, looks certain to miss the final. Dean Huijsen wasn’t considered fit enough to play a single minute against Atlético. Éder Militão is out long term. Raúl Asencio should be available, but it’s not clear who’ll partner him at center back. It might be Carreras, who has performed OK in the position when called upon, or Tchouameni, whose deployment there leaves a vacancy in midfield.
Either way, Madrid’s most important player on Sunday is likely to be a man used to performing miracles in finals: goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. — Kirkland
Have Barça improved their leaky defense?
Technically the numbers suggest Barcelona have improved in defense, but it’s far too early to say there has been any dramatic change. They have conceded 20 in 19 LaLiga games, which is more than any other team in the top five, and 11 in six Champions League matches as teams have found joy in behind their high line again and again.
However, they are on a run of five straight clean sheets in all competitions for the first time since 2020. They have not had a longer streak since 2016, when they went eight games without conceding a goal. Perhaps they have benefited from stability in the backline at last. In general, Flick has preferred a back four of Jules Koundé, Pau Cubarsí, Gerard Martín and Alejandro Balde in recent weeks, although Eric García came in for Martín against Athletic and should remain there against Madrid.
The biggest change, though, has been the return of goalkeeper García from injury. During those five games — García played four; Marc-André ter Stegen one — Barça have had an xG against of 5.57. That has mainly been accrued in their last three matches against Villarreal (1.69) Espanyol (1.6) and Athletic 1.75 when García has been colossal. His save from Pere Milla against Espanyol was one of the saves of the season.
“I have to thank Joan for that performance,” Flick breathed in a sigh of relief after Barça snatched a late win. — Marsden
Predictions?
Kirkland: October’s Clásico win for Madrid should have been the start of something; instead, it now feels like a false dawn. Unless Madrid perform much, much better than they did on Thursday, they will be well beaten. Barcelona 3-1 Madrid.
Marsden: When Clásicos have such a one-sided feel before they start, it’s not uncommon for them to go the other way, but it’s hard to be contrary here. This fixture has produced a lot of goals recently, so let’s hope for more of the same. Barcelona 4-3 Madrid.