Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos responds to boos directed at him with a witty response.
Real Madrid won the Supercopa de España with a 4-1 victory over Barcelona in the final at KSU Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday (Nov. 15). Crosby played the full 81 minutes to help his team to victory.
Real opened the scoring in the seventh minute of the first half. A through ball from Jude Bellingham was not dealt with firmly by Jules Kunde, leaving Vinicius Jr. one-on-one with the keeper, and he calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper.
In the 10th minute, Vinicius added another goal. Hodriguez made a brilliant move down the halfway line to find space in the back. After receiving the pass, Hodriguez delivered a precise ground ball cross to Vinicius. Vinicius tripped and slid the ball into the back of the net.
Barcelona pulled one back in the 33rd minute. Valdez’s cross was cleared by a Real defender, but it didn’t go far. Lewandowski, who was lingering in the penalty box, struck a fantastic volley to split the Real goal.
But Barcelona’s joy was short-lived. In the 38th minute, Vinicius was tripped by Araujo in a rush, and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Vinicius stepped up to the plate and scored, completing his hat trick.
Real drove a wedge into the game in the second half. In the 19th minute, with Araujo in front of him on the left flank, he sent in a low cross that was met by Kunde’s foot. Kunde cleared the ball out in front of Hodriguez, who slotted it into the corner of the net.
The game was not over. In fact, in the 26th minute of the second half, Araujo was sent off for accumulated cautions, putting Barcelona at a numerical disadvantage. In the end, Real ran out 4-1 winners, led by Vinicius, to lift the Spanish Super Cup trophy.
The most booed player in the match wasn’t even Araujo, who was sent off, but Real’s Cross. The Saudi crowd booed him every time he received the ball, defending him every time he lost it.
The reason was Cross’s comments. In a past interview, Cross had said of his trip to Saudi Arabia, “Players say there is ambitious football there, but it’s really about money. It’s a shame that players who are in the middle of their careers, not the end of their careers, and who should be playing for top clubs, go to Saudi Arabia.”
The Saudi crowd booed Cross in response to the criticism, but he was unperturbed: “I knew they were booing, but when you’re focused, you don’t notice. It didn’t disturb me or affect my play. I was rather amused,” he said.
In fact, according to CouchScore, Cross had a good game in 81 minutes, with two key passes, a 95 percent pass completion rate, a 100 percent long pass completion rate, and one decisive chance created. His rating was 7.8, the fourth-highest on the team.
