The Super Cup bill

When they have woken up in the rooms of their concentration hotel, the Barça players will have found their Super Cup bill on Monday. And it is expensive. The team returns to Barcelona without a title and again with the face of a loser. Forced to stand up in three days, where a cheating match against Cornellà awaits.

Barça is very touched on the physical plane. Short as he is on the squad, he has played two games with two extra time. 240 minutes without the final prize against Athletic. Physical fatigue will be joined by emotional fatigue. Another stick for a team that still has the photos of Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon in its head; of the Cup final in Seville. From the Super Cup of the La Cartuja Stadium this Sunday.

And Koeman's Barça comes out with football doubts. He never played the match against Athletic and, even when he found two advantages, did he know how to defend them. As in Rome or Liverpool, a set-piece at the near post with ease dug his grave in the match. A team, once again conditioned by Messi, that did not unfold with the courage it showed in the match against Real, with more or less football. And that ended up losing.

The Super Cup also passes individual bills. Ter Stegen, the hero of the semifinal, once again showed that he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world under the sticks, but that he has problems in the crossed centers and it is difficult for him to defend his entire area. In defense, Dest was not fully capable of playing, Mingueza is a footballer with many limitations, Lenglet is in a deep game slump and Alba still contributes tons in attack but suffers torture when he has to defend. Only Ronald Araújo, De Jong, Pedri and Griezmann approved globally. The Uruguayan has already established himself as a starter at Barça; the Dutch and the French have taken a tremendous step forward and the canary could not ask for more. Dembélé could not be decisive on the day of the final; Braithwaite gives what he gives and Messi and Koeman, the leaders of the pack, could not lead the team to glory

Barça, with Cornellà, Elche, Athletic, Betis and Alavés as next rivals; and with the Champions League on the horizon, he is forced to get up after another blow to his prestige, his physique, and especially his morals, in Seville.