Koeman is looking in the "Super Cup" for his first coronation with Barcelona ... and Zidane to confirm his superiority

When he returned to Barcelona, ​​the team that starred in his ranks as a player, to take over the coach's job last August, Dutchman Ronald Koeman pledged to bring the Catalan club back to the top, especially in the Champions League, where he failed to reach the semi-finals in the past five seasons.

The opportunity will be ripe for the coach to win the Spanish Super Cup title, which he inaugurates tomorrow through the semi-final against Real Sociedad, while Real Madrid will meet Bilbao.

Koeman is seeking his first coronation, while Zidane wants to assert supremacy in the competition that won the title of its previous edition.

And after he started his coaching career as a successor to Kiki City after the humiliating defeat against Bayern Munich 2-8 in the Champions League quarter-finals, in a very faltering manner, he made "Blaugrana" offer the worst start of his season in terms of number of points after 6 games (8 which is the same number of points 2002-2003 season), Koman managed in recent weeks to put his team back on the right track with three straight victories.

Now he has the opportunity to win his first title as a coach with the team that defended his colors as a player between 1989 and 1995 and helped lead him to win the Spanish League title four consecutive times between 1991 and 1994 during the "Dream Team" era under the supervision of his late compatriot Cruyff.

He also played a key role in winning the European Champion Clubs Cup (now the Champions League) in 1992 by scoring the only goal of the match in the final against Sampdoria with a missile free kick.

The Dutchman starts his short journey towards the first title on Wednesday when Argentine Lionel Messi and his comrades face Real Sociedad in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup competition, which was supposed to be held in its new form in Saudi Arabia for the second season as a successor. For its three matches.

Four teams are participating in the competition in its new look, which is Barcelona as runners-up to the league and rivals Real Madrid, the champions and defending champions, Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, who reached the Cup final last season, which was postponed to April 4 due to the repercussions of the Corona virus.

The second semi-final match will be held Thursday between Real and Bilbao, with the final scheduled for Sunday in Seville.

Messi woke up

Barcelona hopes to benefit from Messi's awakening in order to skip Sociedad, who has fallen into disrepair in recent weeks after he was at the top of the league, and has only failed to win an orphan one in his last 12 matches in all competitions.

Messi recently regained the levels that football fans had entrusted to him in the last 15 years after a faint start to the season, and led his team to its third successive victory by scoring and his French colleague Antoine Griezmann in a double in a 4-0 win over Granada on Saturday in the league.

The best player in the world six times raised his tally to 11 goals in the League this season and rose to the top of the scoring charts.

Coman's team, which remained unbeaten in the league for the eighth game in a row, raised its score to 34 points in third place, three points behind rivals Real Madrid, who settled with a negative draw with Osasuna and four points for leaders Atletico Madrid, whose match with Bilbao was postponed due to weather conditions, To bring the number of postponed matches to three.

Waiting to know if Messi will stay with the Catalan club beyond next summer, especially after the resignation of President Josep Maria Bartomeu and the organization of new elections on the current 24th, Coman said Saturday, "Barsa needs Leo (Messi), in order to play, his importance in creating opportunities, especially for his effectiveness. It is an important thing that you need in order to compete for titles. "

He continued, "From the first day, my relationship with Leo was good. He did everything in his power to regain his form and help the team, and like everyone else, he suffered a little for a short period, but recently he is playing very well." It seems that Koeman's team temporarily closed the controversy that accompanied Messi's desire. To leave, and seeks to confirm that Wednesday in Cordoba by renewing its supremacy over Sociedad, who has not beat the Catalan club in the last 11 confrontations.

A second Classico?

And after being suspended in Pamplona after a draw with Osasuna due to weather and snowstorm, Real Madrid was able on Monday to leave, heading directly to Malaga instead of passing through the capital, where he will face Bilbao on Thursday.

After a series of five consecutive victories, including against strong Seville away from home (1-0) and arch-neighbor Atlético Madrid leaders (2-0) and Thursday's opponent Bilbao (3-1), Real Madrid wasted 4 points in the last three stages by tying with Alche ( 1-1) and Osasuna, but it is expected that Zinedine Zidane's team will not face great difficulty in renewing their superiority over Bilbao, who has achieved only two wins in its last nine matches.

Zidane was not satisfied on Saturday with the match against Osasuna in these difficult climatic conditions, saying, "We went to the match because they asked us to play the match, but the circumstances were very difficult. For me, this is not a football match."

The French coach, who won the title as Real Madrid coach in 2017 and 2020 and as a player in 2001 and 2003, stressed that "it is not an excuse. What everyone wants is to watch a football match, and today (Saturday) the conditions were not suitable to watch a football match."

Now that the Osasuna match is behind him, Zidane's team will focus on the Bilbao match, in which the Belgian may give Eden Hazar more minutes on the way back after recovering from injury, as well as the captain Sergio Ramos, who has not yet resolved the issue of his continuation with the royal club. or not.

And if things go as they should without surprises, the "La Cartuja" stadium on Sunday in Seville will be on a date with the second "Clasico" for this season, after which ended in favor of Real Madrid 3-1 in the home of his Catalan rivals on October 24 in the seventh stage of the league But Barcelona was in the midst of a mess with Koeman.

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