Vinícius Nets Hat Trick as Real Madrid Beats Barcelona 4-1 to Win Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia 

Real Madrid's Nacho celebrates with teammates as he holds the trophy of the Spanish Super Cup after the final soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP)
Real Madrid's Nacho celebrates with teammates as he holds the trophy of the Spanish Super Cup after the final soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP)
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Vinícius Nets Hat Trick as Real Madrid Beats Barcelona 4-1 to Win Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia 

Real Madrid's Nacho celebrates with teammates as he holds the trophy of the Spanish Super Cup after the final soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP)
Real Madrid's Nacho celebrates with teammates as he holds the trophy of the Spanish Super Cup after the final soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP)

Vinícius Júnior did his best Cristiano Ronaldo impression in Saudi Arabia, scoring a hat trick and leading Real Madrid to a 4-1 rout of Barcelona and the Spanish Super Cup trophy.

Vinícius scored his three goals in the first half as Madrid beat Barcelona to lift its first trophy of the season on Sunday. After his first goal, the Brazil forward imitated the trademark celebration of the former Madrid great, with Ronaldo reportedly at the Riyadh stadium.

“It was for Cris, because he is my idol and now he is playing here,” said Vinícius, who was named the best player of the final. “I'm very happy with myself and with my team. It's not easy to play against Barcelona and to win 4-1 is tough. We played an almost perfect match.”

Rodrygo also scored for Madrid, which now has 13 Super Cup trophies, one less than the Catalan club. It was Madrid’s second Super Cup triumph since the tournament was moved to Saudi Arabia four years ago. Robert Lewandowski scored Barcelona's goal to make it 2-1 in the first half.

The “clasico” between the Spanish powerhouses was a rematch of last year’s Super Cup final that Barcelona won 3-1 for its first trophy with coach Xavi Hernández and without Lionel Messi.

Madrid had also won at Barcelona in the first “clasico” of the season in October in the Spanish league.

Barcelona played a man down from the 71st after defender Ronald Araujo was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Vinícius. Madrid was already winning 4-1 at the time.

The victory added to Madrid’s momentum as Carlo Ancelotti’s team remains unbeaten in 21 consecutive games in all competitions. Its last setback was a 3-1 loss at Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league in September.

In contrast, the defeat adds to Barcelona’s troubles and increases the pressure on Xavi, whose team hasn’t played well recently. It trails second-place Madrid by seven points in the Spanish league, with Catalan opponent Girona another point ahead at the top having played an extra game.

“We are disappointed and sad,” Xavi said. “We were hopeful of another victory, but in the end it was our worst match. We didn’t get off to a good start and were never comfortable. We have to congratulate Madrid because it deserved to win.”

It didn’t take long for Madrid to take control of the match in Riyadh, with Vinícius scoring his first goals since a long injury absence in the seventh, 10th and 39th minutes. It was Vinícius' third match since being out from November because of an injury picked up with Brazil’s national team in a World Cup qualifier.

“Vinícius is back,” Ancelotti said. “He needed these two or three games to get back to his best form.”

Vinícius opened the scoring after an assist by Jude Bellingham, dribbling past Barcelona goalkeeper Iñaki Peña before finding the open net. The second goal came in a breakaway after an assist by Rodrygo, and the third was a penalty kick he converted after being pulled down by Araujo.

Lewandowski had moved Barcelona within a goal with a shot from inside the area in the 33rd, but Madrid remained in control during the rest of the match to secure a comfortable victory.

Rodrygo’s goal came in the 64th after a pass by Vinícius was deflected by Barcelona defender Jules Koundé inside the area.

Madrid made it to the final by defeating Atletico Madrid 5-3 in extra time in the first semifinal on Wednesday, while Barcelona got past Osasuna 2-0 on Thursday.

Madrid qualified for the Super Cup after beating Osasuna in the Copa del Rey final last season, while Barcelona made it to the tournament as the Spanish league champion.

Madrid also won the trophy when the Super Cup’s revamped “Final Four” format debuted in Saudi Arabia in 2020.



Flawless Oscar, Max Flounders: Bahrain Grand Prix Talking Points 

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP)
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP)
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Flawless Oscar, Max Flounders: Bahrain Grand Prix Talking Points 

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP)
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia in action during the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP)

Oscar Piastri produced a command performance on Sunday to deliver McLaren's first win at the Bahrain Grand Prix since the nocturnal desert dust-up joined the Formula One calendar in 2004.

The Australian crossed the line in Sakhir over 15 seconds clear of Mercedes' George Russell to move second behind teammate Lando Norris in the drivers' standings.

Norris completed the podium to take a three-point lead into next Sunday's race in Jeddah.

AFP Sport looks at three talking points from the fourth round of the season:

Oscar Piastri shone brightest under the floodlights in Bahrain to enhance his standing as a potential world champion.

Cool, calm and collected, nothing seems to faze the 24-year-old Australian.

As McLaren team principal Andrea Stella succinctly remarked: "There's no noise in Oscar's head".

Brushing off the misfortune of a late run off in the season-opener in Melbourne that dropped him back from second to ninth he regrouped to win in China, take third in Japan, and win from pole in Bahrain.

"I'm very proud of the team, proud of myself, and excited for next week," he said after his fourth career win.

Piastri's persona is poles apart from that of the man on the other side of the McLaren garage, Lando Norris.

The Briton wears his heart on his sleeve, is intensely self-critical, and left Bahrain searching for answers to regain his and his car's mojo.

"I'm not confident, I'm not comfortable, I know what I can achieve, it's not gone, I've not lost it, but things aren't clicking. I've got to look at why but that's proving not to be easy."

Red Bull picked up their first double points of the season in Sakhir, with Max Verstappen sixth and his new teammate Yuki Tsunoda ninth.

But that was small consolation for a team in trouble and desperately searching for answers to solve issues with their problematic 2025 car.

Team principal Christian Horner was frank about the situation when he met the media in the team's hospitality tent after the race.

"Look, it was a bad weekend.

"It's a 24-race championship, we're eight points behind in the drivers' championship, and we know we need to make progress very quickly."

With Verstappen slipping to third in the drivers' standings his quest for a fifth successive title, a feat only achieved by Michael Schumacher, looks in danger.

"Everything went wrong, poor start, wheel spin, same problems in qualification, hard tires didn't work, I was last after the second pit stop," remarked Verstappen.

"Considering everything to finish sixth was alright.

"It's not what we want, but it's where we are at.

"It's tough, got to hang on to improve the situation -- hopefully we can improve soon," added the downbeat Dutchman.

Arguably the driver of the day was George Russell.

His Mercedes was doing everything it could in the closing stages to sabotage his race.

He found himself having to multi-task at high speed trying to sort out a litany of electronic issues -- at one stage he pressed the team radio button only to engage DRS (drag reduction system).

All that as he was fending off Norris.

After surviving a steward's inquiry over the DRS incident which carried with it the threat of a five-second penalty Russell's runner-up spot maintained his best ever start to a season with his third podium finish.

"I'm mega happy, the last 10 laps were exceptionally difficult," said the man who has seamlessly taken over the role of team leader at the Silver Arrows after Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari.

Hamilton's replacement Kimi Antonelli was going well until undone by the late safety car to finish just outside the points in a race which will serve as a valuable learning exercise for the brilliant young Italian rookie.