The clasico in the desert

 The Spanish Super Cup final between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid took place in the country that will host the 2034 World Cup, Saudi Arabia, and thus, everyone should stop complaining, because Saudi Arabia is already host to a lot of sports-events, whether we like it or not.

Money talks, specially as these two sides faced one another, and the confrontation happened in the midst of the controversy of Dani Olmo being allowed to play for Barcelona despite some apparently creative financial juggling from FC Barcelona that many Spanish clubs are complaining about. That said, we have always known that there are other rules for these two sides who, despite all the controversy, are always good for some entertainment.

And the final was entertaining indeed. Barcelona was far far superior, but Real Madrid had Kylian Mbappe, who with his speed and quality was basically the only threat that Real Madrid had, and he proved it early on when he brought Real Madrid ahead. But that was virtually everything Real Madrid had to offer, and in particular defenders like Lucas Vasquez, Aurelien Tchouameni and Ferland Mendy were played around with by Barcelona's quick and excellent technicians. Young Lamine Yamal equalized for Barcelona with a brilliant strike, while Robert Lewandoski scored on a penalty committed by another poor Real Madrid player Eduardo Camavinga. By halftime the score was 4-1 for Barcelona with additional goals by Raphinha and Alejandro Balde, and when Raphinha made it 5-1 early in the second half against a Real Madrid side where Ancelotti had decided to make no changes, one thought that this could be a historical victory for Barcelona.

However, Mbappe's speed gave Real Madrid a bit of breathing space as he was taken down by the substitute Polish Barcelona goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, who was correctly shown a red card (the referee did forgive red cards for Vinicius Jr. and Camavinga nevertheless), and in the subsequent free kick Rodrygo made it 2-5.

Barcelona pulled back, and that was the end result as Real Madrid showed zero threats against a Barcelona side that dominated throughout the match. And if anyone still questions the Balon d'Or: while Vinicius Jr. was invisible throughout the match, Pedri completely dominated the midfield alongside Gavi and Pau Casado to a degree that was humiliating for Real Madrid.

I don't really care that Barcelona won, but it was entertaining to see them play so well, but one has to wonder about Real Madrid: I have always considered Carlo Ancelotti one of the best managers in the world, but in this match he seemed to have missed everything. Tchouameni and Lucas Vasquez were simply not up to the task, and he had no answers to Barcelona's midfield control. It was one of the worst displays of Real Madrid in that desert afternoon in Saudi Arabia.

Argentina group winners

Most people had written off Argentina after their opening defeat to Saudi Arabia. Including myself. But Argentina rose to the occasion, first defeating Mexico 2-0 and now Poland 2-0 on two goals by Alexis MacAllister and Julian Alvarez. Poland were a big disappointment, except for the great Wojciech  Szczesny, who in the first half saved a completely inexistant penalty from Messi (amazing that you can justify a wrong call with VAR).

So Argentina win the group ahead of Poland, who just squeezed through ahead of Mexico on goal difference. It was a pity for Saudi Arabia that they did not go through after defeating Argentina, but it does seem that it was indeed a one-off. Tata Martino's Mexico were impossible to like, so in the end Poland were the best team to go through in what in the end was a relatively easy group for Argentina.

Argentina will enter the knock-out stages with two victories and a defeat. The same as France (who lost to Tunisia), and despite their opening match defeat to Saudi Arabia continue to be a candidate for the title. They have weaknesses in defense and will have to play well to defeat a well-organised and hard-fighting Australia.

But I am delighted to have been proven wrong (so far) about Argentina!