Heroic Marc-André ter Stegen!

By deflecting the two shots on goal from Juanmi and William Carvalho, Barça's German goalkeeper hoisted his team to the final on Sunday (8:00 p.m.) in Riyadh.

Previously, Robert Lewandowski had opened the scoring in the 40th minute, but Nabil Fekir had equalized in the 77th, then Ansu Fati had put his own in front with a volley from the left perfectly placed at the start of extra time (93rd), before that Loren Moron, with a clever backheel, sends the two teams to penalties.

Like the day before between Real Madrid and Valencia CF (1-1 ap, 4-3 tab), we had to wait until late at night to find out the poster for the final of this Spanish Super Cup organized in Saudi Arabia : and it will be the first clasico of the year 2023 which will decide the winner, Sunday at the King-Fahd stadium in Riyadh.

Breathtaking scenario

For Barça, leader of La Liga and in excellent shape, this qualification will be good for morale.

Especially given the breathtaking scenario of the game.

After a first goal canceled at Pedri for offside, the Catalans opened the scoring thanks to a goal concluded by "Lewy" in two stages, but well brought by Ousmane Dembélé.

The French winger was also the most active offensive element of the meeting on the Blaugrana side.

In the process, Ter Stegen has already been intractable on his line, notably deflecting a big shot from German Pezzella and two other attempts from Rodri and Luiz Henrique.

But Betis found the fault when they returned from the locker room: in the 77th, this same Luiz Henrique shifted Nabil Fekir into the area, who adjusted a shot placed from the left to equalize.

The end of the match went crazy.

Robert Lewandowski believed to put his people in front in the 81st, but his goal was canceled for a prior offside by Ferran Torres.

Two strikes from Ansu Fati were blocked by Claudio Bravo just before the end of regulation time...

But it was the prodigy of Barça who put the Catalans in front in the 93rd, with a sublime volley from the left after a free kick returned by the Andalusian defense.

A jewel almost equaled by the clever backheel of Loren Moron in the 101st, after a mess in the area, which deceived Ter Stegen.

Busquets, the 700th

Fortunately for the Catalans, the German goalkeeper came to his senses for the penalty shootout, where he once again proved to be very strong.

For Betis, who played the last minute of extra time at ten after the expulsion of Andrés Guardado for a second yellow card in six minutes, the disappointment is great: the Andalusians, winners of the Copa del Rey last year , dreamed of once again creating a surprise.

This was not the case: it was indeed the men of Sergio Busquets, who played his 700th match with Barça on Thursday (only Lionel Messi, with 778 matches, and Xavi, with 767 matches, exceeded him), who fly towards a clasico which already promises to be crisp.

© 2023 AFP