Real Madrid beats Barcelona to win Spanish Super Cup

Real Madrid overturned a 3-2 first leg deficit against rivals Barcelona to win the Spanish Super Cup on away goals.

Hosts Real capitalised on two blunders to quickly go 2-0 up in the second leg, with Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo firing in.

Barcelona had Adriano red-carded for hauling down Ronaldo but the visitors pulled one back through a superb 35-yard Lionel Messi free-kick.


Both sides then missed clear-cut chances before Real prevailed.

The defeat meant Tito Vilanova was denied his first trophy as Barcelona boss and he will need to look no further than his lacklustre defence for the reason.

In another captivating El Clasico there were plenty of chances as Barcelona strived for the goal that would have earned them an aggregate win, while Real attempted to put their arch rivals away once and for all.

New Real signing Luka Modric, on as a substitute, had a close range strike blocked before Messi drove an injury-time shot agonisingly wide for Barcelona as the home side held on for their first Super Cup victory since 2008.