Real Madrid vs Barcelona live score, updates, highlights from El Clasico as Gavi and Lewandowski have Barca flying

By | January 15, 2023
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The first trophy of the season in the Spanish domestic calendar will be awarded as old heavyweight rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona meet in Saudi Arabia.

Both semifinals of the Supercopa de Espana came down to penalties, but the two Spanish giants held strong to dump Valencia and Real Betis out of the competition.

Robert Lewandowski takes the field for Barcelona looking to win his first piece of silverware at the Catalan club. They lead the La Liga table as well, and while the Polish striker is weathering a three-match suspension in league play, he’s able to feature in this mini competition.

On the other end, Karim Benzema is back and fit, having scored four goals in three games since returning from injury after the World Cup break concluded. He hit from the spot against Valencia to help Real Madrid through to the final.

The Sporting News will be following the match live and providing score updates, commentary and highlights as they happen.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona live score

  1H 2H Score
Real Madrid 0 0 0
Barcelona 2 0 2

Goals:
34th min — BAR — Gavi
45th min — BAR — Robert Lewandowski

Confirmed lineups:

Real Madrid (4-3-3, right to left): 1. Courtois (GK) — 2. Carvajal, 3. Militao, 22. Rudiger, 23. Mendy — 8. Kroos, 12. Camavinga, 10. Modric — 15. Valverde, 9. Benzema, 20. Vinicius Jr.

Barcelona (3-4-2-1, right to left): 1. Ter Stegen (GK) — 4. Araujo, 23. Kounde, 15. Christensen — 28. Balde, 21. De Jong, 5. Busquets, 7. Dembele — 8. Pedri, 30. Gavi — 9. Lewandowski.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona live updates, highlights, commentary

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Second Half

Kickoff: The players are out for the second half, and there are no changes for either side as of yet. It’s hard to say there were any truly glaring tactical weaknesses for Los Blancos in that first half that could be changed with a substitution, the players just simply need to play better.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Halftime

It has to be said, Barcelona were clearly the better side in that first half and absolutely deserve their two-goal lead. Real Madrid were incredibly poor, both on and off the ball.

Barcelona’s press directly led to the first goal just past the half-hour mark, while one simple pass through midfield sprung the second. It’s just been far too simple for Barcelona as they look comfortable absorbing token pressure, were pinpoint in their pressing, and ruthless in front of goal.

Lewandowski to Gavi for the first, Gavi to Lewandowski for the second. If not for a stellar Thibault Courtois save, it could have been even worse. Real Madrid have plenty of changes to make!

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: First half

45th min: GOAL! BARCELONA! Another calamity from Real Madrid in midfield, and it results in another goal for Barcelona, finished off by Robert Lewandowski! Sergio Busquets starts it with an outstanding pass that gets right past both Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, and then Gavi down the left edge of the penalty area cuts to Lewandowski at pace at the top of the six-yard box. Free on goal, Lewandowski would never miss from there, and Barcelona go 2-0 up. Too easy!

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43rd min: Vinicius Jr has a great chance to run at the Barcelona defense, but he takes a heavy first touch and the chance evaporates. He’s then whistled for a clear foul on Jules Kounde after losing out to the Barcelona defender at the top of the penalty area. The Brazilian is in quite poor form since returning from the World Cup.

39th min: Real Madrid holding significant possession again since the goal, but again not much to show for it. A poor corner delivery is cleared easily by the first man, and then another deep cross into the area is headed away by Ronald Araujo. Eder Militao makes a mistake in possession on the touchline and it goes out of play. Los Blancos are shell-shocked at the moment.

33rd min: GOAL! BARCELONA! Real Madrid so sloppy trying to play out of the back, and 18-year-old Gavi makes them pay! A turnover generated by an excellent Eduardo Camavinga tackle springs the chance, and the ball filters to Robert Lewandowski at the top of the penalty area. He slots it laterally to Gavi, and the reigining Golden Boy finishes with a cool left-footed effort.

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32nd min: First yellow card of the match comes to Ferland Mendy for yanking back Ousmane Dembele by the shoulder with both arms as the French winger hoped to cut across his defender on the ball. This is a dangerous free-kick chance for Barcelona from the right edge of the penalty area.

The delivery is an excellent one, right to the goal mouth, but it’s punched away by Marc-Andre ter Stegen and then the official stops play with Antonio Rudiger down. Looks like Rudiger took the brunt of the punch to the head from his German countrymate. He’s after a quick check he’s fine, and gets up to run it off.

28th min: It seemed that Barcelona had formluated out how to suffocate the Real Madrid buildup, but Los Blancos have finally figured out how to pass their way through. It’s still a very slow progression from Madrid, but there’s more space as Barcelona back off some to conserve energy.

There’s a worry that Robert Lewandowski has come off the pitch and is receiving medical treatment. It’s not quite clear why or for what, but play continues for now.

26th min: Great goalkeeping from Marc-Andre ter Stegen who comes off his line to dispossess Karim Benzema after it seemed he’d rounded the German goalkeeper. The flag goes up late and nullifies any potential profit from that move.

18th min: Chance, Real Madrid! Finally Real Madrid get into the Barcelona attacking third, and Karim Benzema puts a header wide! The cross from Ferland Mendy was exceptional, right on a platter, and you’d expect the Frenchman to do better with that. He was aiming for the top corner and missed.

Find out more about why Karim Benzema wears a bandage on his hand in all matches.

17th min: A significant amount of this opening 20 minutes has been played in the Real Madrid half. Los Blancos are struggling to get out of their area, despite holding significant possession. Barcelona press has been spectacular.

13th min: Chance, Barcelona! The Blaugrana are coming close, and Courtois makes an INCREDIBLE save!!! Robert Lewandowski takes aim from the top of the penalty area, and Courtois goes full stretch to push the ball off the post! SO CLOSE for Barcelona! Alex Balde has the follow up chance with Courtois on the ground but he lashes at it and rifles it way off target.

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11th min: Chance, Barcelona! Robert Lewandowski heads over! Another vertical looped ball over the top finds the head of Lewandowski at the near post this time, and his flick is over the crossbar with his back to goal. A very high degree of difficulty chance. There was also a hint of possible offside had it gone in, but it was very, very tight.

9th min: Vinicius Jr, who has been fouled the most of any player in La Liga, gets chopped down by a sliding Ronald Araujo challenge. The tackle comes outside the field of play over the touchline but it still counts, and gives a free-kick to Real Madrid in the middle third.

6th min: Chance, Barcelona! On a free-kick, Ronald Araujo somehow sneaks clear on the far post, and the ball from deep very nearly finds him as he slides towards the goal mouth, but it evades his stretch by inches. Very close, nobody marked the Uruguayan defender!

3rd min: Jules Kounde marshals the ball out of play with strength against Vinicius Jr who is pushing hard to win it back. Expect Kounde and Araujo to get plenty of Vini all match.

2nd min: Real Madrid possess the ball early but Barcelona generate a turnover in the attacking half, although little comes from it. Barcelona pressing quite high early on, but that likely won’t last terribly long.

Kickoff: The match between two heated rivals is under way from Saudi Arabia! It looks like Barcelona are indeed in a 3-4-2-1 with Ronald Araujo deployed as the right centre-back to defend Vinicius Jr.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Pre-match commentary, analysis

13 mins to kick: Real Madrid are in good shape, but it must hurt to see talent abroad excelling for other teams, particularly in the Premier League. They still have to replace the likes of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric at some point too. Martin Odegaard would be quite useful for Los Blancos in that regard, but he is now at Arsenal, who are on their way to a Premier League title.

36 mins to kick: Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets will make his 45th appearance in El Clasico, equaling the record of Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos. He may get a chance to break that mark later this season. What a career!

62 mins to kick: There are questions about how Barcelona will be structured in this match. There are reports that Ronald Araujo will line up on the flank and mark Vinicius Jr, while others believe this is a three-CB formation. Vinicius has been in poor form of late, and needs a big match to break out of his funk. Araujo has struggled with injuries of late but has performed well when asked to play out wide. Barcelona did occasionally show a three-CB formation in the semifinal, which does lend us to believe that’s how they will play.

75 mins to kick: The Barcelona lineup is now out, and the speculation that Xavi might switch to a 3-4-2-1 proved accurate. Both Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong are deployed as a midfield pivot, while the struggling Raphinha drops to the bench.

90 mins to kick: Incredibly, Carlo Ancelotti contests yet another final hoping to keep his streak alive, not having lost a final since 2014. He is fresh off winning the IFFHS 2022 Club Coach of the Year award just a few days ago, which is handed out by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, the statistical overlords of FIFA. See more on the trophies Carlo Ancelotti has won here.

105 mins to kick: Real Madrid, for whatever reason, has already announced their starting lineup for the match, even though it doesn’t start for quite some time. There’s just one minor surprise, as Rodrygo drops to the bench in favor of Luka Modric, who returns to the starting lineup and bumps Federico Valverde up to the wing.

120 mins to kick: Before things get serious and these two teams play for a title, here’s a little fun from the Barcelona social team, as Pedri and Ansu Fati play a game of 7-Second Challenge with each other, where they try to answer questions quickly. Always good to see a bit of the players’ personality!

Real Madrid vs Barcelona lineups & team news

A Real Madrid team already missing the injured Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba saw three more players pick up injuries in Wednesday’s semifinal. But only right-back Lucas Vazquez (right ankle) won’t recover in time for the final, forcing Dani Carvajal to start the match.

Luka Modric was rested against Valencia in the semifinal, and he returns as expected to start the final. It was thought that Eduardo Camavinga, who’s reportedly not 100 percent, would drop to the bench, but instead it’s Rodrygo who falls out, as Federico Valverde moves up into the attack. Ferland Mendy also returning to the XI after Nacho Fernandez served as the starter against Valencia.

Real Madrid confirmed starting lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Courtois (GK) — Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Mendy — Kroos, Camavinga, Modric — Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr.

Real Madrid subs (12): Lopez (GK), Lunin (GK), N. Fernandez, Vallejo, Odorizola, Martin, Ceballos, Asensio, Hazard, Rodrygo, Diaz.

After starting the semifinal on the bench, veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets was expected to return to the XI, and he does, slotting into the middle. Sports daily AS posited a scenario in which coach Xavi Hernandez opts to play with four midfielders, in which Frenkie de Jong would come in for Raphinha, and that ultimately came true.

Reports also indicated that Ronald Araujo, who trained separately from the team on the eve of the match, would be tabbed to return. That also comes true, with Andreas Christensen entering at centre-back to partner with Jules Kounde and Araujo in a three-at-the-back system. Ousmane Dembele will play wing-back opposite Alex Balde.

Barcelona projected starting lineup (3-4-2-1, right to left): Ter Stegen (GK) — Araujo, Kounde, Christensen — Balde, Busquets, De Jong, Dembele — Pedri, Gavi — Lewandowski.

Barcelona subs (11): Pena (GK), Tenas (GK), Roberto, Alonso, Garcia, Alba, Kessie, Raphinha, Torres, Fati, Depay.

How to watch Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Select broadcasters in countries around the world have carried the Spanish Supercopa matches, including in the UK and USA.

For other regions that don’t have a local broadcast or stream, fans can access the matches on streaming platform Shahid VIP, as indicated by LiveSoccerTV.

  TV channel Streaming
Australia  — Shahid
Canada  — Shahid
Hong Kong  — Shahid
India  — Shahid
Malaysia  — Shahid
New Zealand  — Shahid
Singapore  — Shahid
UK BT Sport 1 BT Sport site/app
USA ABC, ESPN Deportes fuboTV, ESPN+

UK: The Supercopa will be carried in the UK on BT Sport’s TV and streaming platforms.

USA: The match will be televised on ABC (English) and ESPN Deportes (Spanish) with both those televised matches streaming on fuboTV. ESPN’s streaming service ESPN+ will also carry streams in English and Spanish for subscribers.

MORE: Everything to know about the Spanish Supercopa 2023

Real Madrid vs Barcelona betting odds & lines

Odds via BetMGM (USA), Sports Interaction (Canada), SkyBet (UK), and Neds (Australia).

Barcelona have the slight edge according to the betting markets, with goals also expected in the match.

Although not listed in the table below, the betting numbers say that Robert Lewandowski has the better likelihood to score at nearly even money odds, with Karim Benzema at nearly the same price.

  USA
(Caesars)		 Canada
(Sports
Interaction)		 UK
(SkyBet)		 AUS
(Neds)
Real Madrid win (90 mins) +180 2.64 7/4 2.65
Draw (90 mins) +245 3.39 13/5 3.25
Barcelona win (90 mins) +150 2.49 11/8 2.30
Both teams
to score (Y / N)		 -160 / +125 1.52 / 2.21 1/2, 6/4 1.53 / 2.35
Over / Under
2.5 total goals		 -135 / +105 1.68 / 2.10 8/13, 6/5 1.67 / 2.10
Real Madrid +0.5 -190 1.52 — —
Barcelona -0.5 +155 2.43 — —

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