RIYADH: Vinicius Jr scored a hat-trick in the first half as Real Madrid were crowned Spanish Super Cup champions after a 4-1 demolition of bitter rivals Barcelona in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Real dominated every aspect of the game and toyed with last year’s champions who could not handle Vinicius and ended the contest with 10 men after defender Ronald Araujo was sent off for a second booking in the 71st minute after two fouls on the Brazilian.

“I didn’t expect us to score three so soon, but we took advantage of their high defensive line with an inspired Vinicius tonight,” Real manager Carlo Ance­lotti told Movistar Plus. “It was a difficult match, the result seems too much for the way Barcelona played. At 3-1 it was even. At 4-1 they dropped their arms a bit.”

The Italian has now gone level with Zinedine Zidane on 11 trophies won at the helm of Real, behind only Miguel Munoz on 14.

Barca could have suffered an even bigger defeat after a dismal second half in which they didn’t record a single shot on target.

Real’s masterclass, however, had started much earlier, with Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and Vinicius creating all kinds of trouble for a Barcelona defence that were playing with an extremely high line.

Barca coach Xavi Herna­ndez turned to a four-man midfield to try and keep the ball to reduce Real’s opportunities to counter attack — it didn’t work.

Ancelotti brought in midfielder Toni Kroos, who like in the thrilling semi-final derby win over Atletico Madrid, was jeered by spectators at the Al-Awwal Park stadium in Riyadh, for criticising players moving to the Saudi league from Europe.

One of the first was Cristiano Ronaldo and Vinicius’ celebration brought him to mind after opening the scoring in the seventh minute.

Bellingham — who was surrounded by three players on the halfway line — produced a stunning pass to find Vinicius who took the ball in his stride and effortlessly raced past the goalkeeper to finish into an empty net.

Real’s second came from another long pass, this time with Dani Carvajal finding Rodrygo in the right channel. He broke into the box before squaring the ball across the penalty area for a Vinicius tap-in in the 10th minute.

Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin stopped a bullet strike from Barca striker Robert Lewandowski after Ferran Torres hit the crossbar but the Pole later halved the deficit from another rebound in the 33rd minute.

Vinicius won the penalty for Real as he was held by defender Araujo and restored Los Blancos advantage from the spot in the 39th minute.

The goal was a hammer blow for Barcelona and Real dominated the second half with Rodrygo hitting their fourth from a rebound in the 64th minute.

The loss will increase the pressure on Barca manager Xavi, who has faced criticism from fans and media who are unhappy with the team’s form.

“We have not shown the level required for a match like this,” Xavi told a press conference. “We played our worst game. We weren’t comfortable at any point. Madrid hurt us on the counter. I apologise to the fans because it was hard for us to compete and we showed our worst side…”

Barcelona visit third-tier Unionistas de Salamanca in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Thursday.

“It’s a trophy lost, we have to be self-critical (but) I still believe in the project and we can still have a great season,” said Xavi.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2024