The final was held at the Stadio Olimpico in Seville.

The two teams participating in the final, one is Real Madrid, who eliminated Bibao 3:2.

The other is Barcelona who beat Real Sociedad on penalties.

Trump card!

This was the theme of the national derby in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.

Rossi vs Messi!

The duel between the two aces became the focus of the game.

Killing Barcelona three times in a year and a half is unique in Real Madrid's history.

This also establishes a psychological advantage for this final.

Barcelona, on the other hand, started high and low in the league, and after losing to Real Madrid, it lost three games in a row, and could only rank 7th at one point.

In the first 15 rounds, the team has only 21 points, 12 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, and only three points from the relegation zone, the worst start since the 1987-88 season.

But then Messi's outburst, Barcelona ushered in a wave of consecutive wins, changed the decline, and rushed into the European zone of the standings.

In the group stage of the Champions League, Juventus led by Cristiano Ronaldo lost the only defeat in the group stage.

Barcelona and Juventus have the same points, but they are second in the group because of the small goal difference over the two legs.

At the end of last year, Laporta became the new president of Barcelona, temporarily stabilizing the situation.

Overall, Barcelona have lacked some luck on the road to recovery.

But Koeman's side have shaken off the pre-season chaos and formed their own tactical system.

This is what Zidane fears.

The pass-and-control play under full offense and full defense is terrifying to think about.

But Zidane was not discouraged, because he firmly believed that his team could overcome all difficulties in the game and win the championship.

Despite being a commercial match, neither side wanted to lose and fielded their strongest lineup.

Barcelona starters:

Goalkeeper: Ter Schgent.

Backline: Alba, Lenglet, Ronald Araujo, Dest.

Midfielders: Pedri, Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong.

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann, Messi, Dembele.

This season, the young players promoted from the second team have all had eye-catching performances.

Araujo and Dest are two young players who have a calm and composure that is not suitable for their age on the defensive end.

With Pique's form declining and right-back's long-term hidden danger, the two are the strength that Barcelona will rely on at the back for the next decade.

In terms of midfield, Pedri's growth made Barcelona fans vaguely see the shadow of Xiaobai's football back then.

With the addition of De Jong, the Barcelona midfielder will not have to worry about the next ten years.

As for the striker, Antoine Griezmann is gradually returning to his peak form, with Dembele scoring two goals in the last three games and is in hot form.

With a thick foundation, Koeman's waist is straight, and he speaks hard at the pre-match press conference.

On the other hand, Zidane, although Real Madrid is in good shape, he is still criticized by fans in terms of tactics and substitutions.

Some fans even joked that only replacing Rossi with Rossi was the most correct adjustment in Zidane's career as a coach of Real Madrid.

But letting Rossi sit on the bench is not a failure.

Real Madrid starters:

Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois.

Defence: Marcelo, Ramos, Varane, Carvajal.

Midfielders: Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Modric.

Forwards: Rossi, Benzema, Gareth Bale.

With Marcelo and Gareth Bale back in the starting line-up, Zidane is hoping to use their tournament experience to help the team build an early advantage.

Zidane's starting lineup has a high margin for error and almost no weaknesses.

But when it came to on-the-spot adjustments, his substitutions were not as reassuring as the starters.

And where it can be adjusted, fans can guess it with their toes.

Valverde, Vazquez, Vinicius, Rodrygo were the usual substitutions.

But in this way, Real Madrid's young players such as Odegaard and Ceballos, who have done everything possible to keep this season, are basically firmly nailed to the bench.

Isco and Asensio are not up to the same level in the team, and they are even a little embarrassed.

Real Madrid's first-team talent pool is abundant, but many players are high-spirited and not willing to be substitutes like Nacho and Vazquez.

If Zinedine Zidane fails to solve this problem, then Real Madrid will lose a lot of good players this summer.

Messi and Ramos, as their respective captains, led the team out of the tunnel to meet the shouts of the fans.

Since it is held at a neutral venue, there is no home advantage, and the number of die-hard fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid is almost equal, which is fair for both sides.

But the addition of neutral fans upset the balance.

At least more than 70% of the fans at the stadium were wearing white Real Madrid shirts.

The number behind them is number 7.

If Raul's number 7 is the matador spirit of the prince of the Bernabeu,

Ronaldo's No. 7 means that this is his king domineering,

Then the meaning of Rossi's number 7 is the key to opening a new era for Real Madrid.

At the start of the game, Barcelona attacked first.

As the Dutch coach, Koeman still took the lead in the final and seized the advantage.

Although Messi is a center forward in his position, he often has to retreat to get the ball and attack in tandem.

Unlike the usual center forwards who drop back to get the ball, Messi can not only use the pass to tear up the defense, but can even start in the midfield, dribble into the opponent's penalty area, and score.

It's so unreasonable.

So, when Messi is dribbling the ball, there are usually more than two defenders to defend him.

Otherwise, once Messi's speed rises, then the defenders who chase back will basically become the background board for his goals.

Zidane's restriction on Messi is to use Casemiro to defend one-on-one.

The Fat Tiger, who is in peak form, can definitely resist the world's No. 1 player.

In the 5th minute, Barcelona instigated an attack on the right side.

Defender Dest crossed the ribs, Messi received the ball and led it horizontally, and followed up with his left foot to shoot.

The whole shot was fast and consistent, with Casemiro's block a little late and unable to intercept.

But to a certain extent, Messi was disturbed, and the ball was slightly high over the crossbar and flew off the bottom line.

In the face of Real Madrid, Messi was in surprisingly good form.

Not only does he enjoy unlimited firing rights as a libero up front, but his position on the pitch is also erratic, making it difficult for Casemiro to mark him one-on-one.

The only place in Real Madrid's squad that didn't have a suitable replacement was Casemiro's midfield position.

As the team's only defensive midfielder, Casemiro is responsible for doing the dirty work and is the hero behind the team.

In the midfield area, he has a clear effect on restricting and disrupting attacking players.

Even Messi is not willing to fight him face-to-face.

So, thanks to his position as a free man, Messi can appear in any area of the front court and organize the attack.

Casemiro, on the other hand, is constrained by the heavy responsibility of defense and can only restrict Messi's activities in a limited area.

Koeman, grasping the opponent's only remaining shortcomings, carried out a fierce attack.

In the 10th minute, Messi, who retreated to the right position of the center circle, held the ball and advanced slowly.

At this stage, Real Madrid did not press in front, but retreated in an orderly manner.

Snatching Messi in this area is easy to be countered by opponents.

After advancing past a third of the Real Madrid half, Messi passed the ball to his team-mates and quickly slid forward to the ribs.

And his teammates also gave Dembele on the wing after a simple cooperation.

Real Madrid's midfield defense retreated quickly, quickly settled in the front of the big penalty area, and turned into a positional battle to limit Barcelona's attack.

But because the defense is too fast and there is no depth protection, Messi has space to receive the ball in the ribs.

Dembele's return pass on the side, the purpose is very clear, that is, to Messi.

Barcelona's pass on the right flank formed a strong flank and forced Real Madrid's defensive focus to shift.

In this way, Messi, who received the ball in the ribs, made a long diagonal pass directly through the ground to Alba who was inserted on the weak side.

Alba in the box at high speed and slotted the ball across the middle before Carvajal fell to the ground to intercept it.

And at this time, it was Messi who appeared at the contact point.

Starting from a walk in the midfield, Messi took Real Madrid off guard by suddenly starting forward and speeding up the team's attack.

Raphael Varane fell to the ground and slid to disrupt Messi's shot.

The pair leaked to the back post after a chaotic touch in front of goal.

Antoine Griezmann had been waiting for a long time to follow up and shoot into the bottom right corner of the net.

Courtois was not prepared at all, and had no choice but to spread his hands.

Barcelona habitually lead!

(End of chapter)