Mighty Barca crush Bilbao in Jeddah

Even though nothing can be certain in a sport like football, it was widely expected that Barcelona would defeat Athletic Bilbao in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup.

After all, the Catalans not only came to Saudi Arabia to play this game on the back of eight straight wins across all competitions, but they came as the winners of last year’s Super Cup, when they thrashed Real Madrid in the finals 5-2.

And Barcelona fulfilled their expectations in this game and defeated Bilbao easily, but nobody could predict they would do it in such a dominant fashion – 5:0!

Last year, the score at halftime, against Real was stunning 4-1, but last night, after 45 minutes, it was 4-0, the biggest difference in the history of the Spanish Super Cup.

And the Catalans did it in only 14 minutes! They just came down like a bunch of bulls on totally unprepared Athletic and scored at will.

It is worth mentioning that Hansi Flick even calculated a bit in this game and did not even start Yamal or Robert Lewandowski.

Raphinha, Torres and Fermin were more than enough for Bilbao, who literally did not show up for this game.

When they woke up, it was already 4-0 and they spent the rest of the game trying not to get humiliated.

They should be happy that they only conceded one goal in the second half.

The start of the game did not promise such a after two half-chances which Fermin and Pedri did not convert.

The third one was finished by Ferran Torres in the 22nd minute after an unintentional assist from Fermin Lopez.

The young Barca forward scored the second one minutes later after an assist from Raphinha and then the Brazilian added another one in the 38th minute.

Roony Bardghji, who got the starting place ahead of Yamal used his chance and scored the third one after a poor reaction from Athletic’s keeper Simon.

Second half was, as expected, much lighter in both tempo and chance created as Barcelona did not push too much and respected Bilbao, while Athletic players were trying to save their honor.

Still, Raphinha managed to score his second goal in the 52nd goal already after a confusing reaction from Bilbao’s defense.

Flick decided to rest his stars after 60th minute and made multiple substitutions.

He even introduced Yamal 20 minutes from time, probably for purely marketing reasons, as fans in Jeddah certainly expected to see the young star at some point but the result remained the same. 

SPAIN - SUPER CUP

Wednesday

Barcelona - Ath.Bilbao 5-0 (4-0)

/Torres 22, Lopez 30, Bardghji 34, Raphinha 38, 52/

Thursday

22.00: (2.90) Atl.Madrid (3.65) Real Madrid (2.45)

***odds are subject to change***