Xavi Hernandez, the Coach of FC Barcelona has lost his chance of lifting his first trophy with his new team after losing to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup Semifinal in Saudi Arabia.
Barcelona lost 2-3 to their long time rival on Wednesday at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
The Barca boss has played in many of the clashes as a player but this is his first experience as a coach.
Until the 2019-2020 season, the Supercopa was a two-team tournament, with the winners of La Liga and the Copa champions fighting for the trophy in a two-legged affair. The aggregate winners were declared champions.
The tournament is currently contested by four teams, with two semi-finals and a final in all single-leg games.
As predicted, the game’s favourites opened the scoreline as Vinícius Juniour found the back of the net after 25 minutes of play.
Barcelona who are 17 points behind Madrid in La Liga equalised in the 41st minute of the first half, thanks to a goal from Luuk de Jong.
Karim Benzema scored Madrid’s second goal after 72 minutes of play.
But Ansu Fati who joined the game from the bench found the back of the net in the 83rd minute to level the score 2-2.
The match was stretched to extra time when Madrid’s Federico Valverde scored the winner.