A day of intense emotions was experienced by Barcelona fans this Wednesday, who, in the midst of lean times, received a double prize almost at once. The CSD returned the license to Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor on a precautionary basis and, minutes later, Flick’s Barça registered for its first final, the Spanish Supercup, after defeating Athletic with more moments of brilliance than suffering.
If someone dared to imagine that the storm unleashed by the Olmo case could affect Flick’s team, they were completely off track. At the Jawhara Stadium, the ‘shining jewel’ of Yida, the opposite began to happen. With the news still fresh of the favorable decision from the CSD, including Laporta’s rude gesture, the Barcelona players took to the field to conquer the world and tame Athletic. Their attitude was impeccable after a few difficult days for the dressing room, which seemed to want to dedicate a victory to Olmo and Pau Víctor, smiling in the stands.
Gavi opened the scoring against Athletic and Lamine Yamal celebrated his return to the starting eleven with a great goal
Barça took less than five minutes to generate their first great chance of the night. They had been controlling the ball until then, bewildering the red and whites, and a great cross from Koundé on the right was headed high by Raphinha. The majority blue and red crowd, though half-empty and silent for much of the match, the football atmosphere in Arabia feeling somewhat gloomy, did lament it with a loud “Oh!”. The Brazilian, a key figure in the build-up with his straightforward attack, seemed eager to also grab the spotlight on the field, and with a free-kick attempt, tried unsuccessfully to surprise an attentive Unai Simón
