Barça look to defend the Supercopa crown against their eternal enemies
FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid CF
Competition/Round: 2026 Spanish Super Cup Final
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Gavi, Andreas Christensen (out), Marc-André ter Stegen, Ronald Araujo (doubt)
Real Madrid Outs & Doubts: Éder Militão, Brahim Díaz (out), Kylian Mbappé (doubt)
Date/Time: Sunday, January 11, 2026, 10pm AST (local time), 8pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 7pm GMT (UK), 2pm ET, 11am PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Monday)
Venue: King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero
VAR: Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez
How to watch on TV: ABC (USA), TNT Sports 1 (UK), Startimes World Football (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), discovery+ (UK), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a dominant win over Athletic Club in Wednesday’s semi-final, Barcelona look to win their first trophy of the season as the Catalans renew hostilities with their biggest rivals Real Madrid with the 2026 Spanish Super Cup title on the line in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday Night Fútbol.
Barça come into this one looking for a 10th consecutive win in all competitiona, and a quality victory against their eternal enemies to secure the first piece of silverware of the campaign would prove beyond any doubt that this team’s ascension since the awful loss at Stamford Bridge is real, and they are more than ready to challenge for everything in the second half of the season.
Losing the Supercopa is not the worst thing in the world, but since this has become the El Clásico Invitational under the new format, it really does matter a lot that you beat your biggest rivals even if it’s for a trophy that doesn’t mean very much. This is the fourth year in a row that Barça and Madrid face off in Saudi Arabia, and the bragging rights and morale boost of winning a trophy over your football enemy is just too good of a price.
Case in point, the 2025 Super Cup: Barça’s extraordinary 5-2 win with an absolute masterpiece of devastating counter-attacking football by Hansi Flick’s team was one of the highlights of an unforgettable 2024-25 season, and they’ll be looking for a repeat of that performance to defend their Supercopa crown and deal another huge blow to Xabi Alonso’s men in what has been an inconsistent season for Los Blancos.
Madrid will have a huge reinforcement in Kylian Mbappé who’s in contention to start after recovering from a minor knee injury, and Real won the first Clásico of the season at the Bernabéu in a game they dominated in the first half but still had to work very hard to win by a narrow 2-1 margin. Those two facts give Madrid confidence that they have a better shot to win the Super Cup this time around, but Barça’s recent form is better and the Blaugrana will be full of confidence themselves.
El Clásico is always must-watch, and this one has a trophy on the line. Should be all kinds of fun.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Martín, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Ferran
Real Madrid (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Valverde, Asencio, Rüdiger, Carreras; Tchouaméni, Camavinga; Rodrygo, Bellingham, Vinicius; Mbappé
PREDICTION
The previous three Super Cup Finals between these two were full of goals and entertainment, and I don’t expect anything different this year. I’m slightly nervous about Mbappé if he’s able to play, but I’ll chose to trust Barça’s superior form and their overall success against Madrid under Flick: 3-2 to the Catalans.
Category: General Sports
