FC Barcelona were in for a cruel surprise in the first half against Real Madrid in the [Spanish Super Cup final](https://x.com/FCBarcelona/status/2010469557526466612?s=20). Xabi Alonso went full Bordalas in his set-up, making his team sit back in a deep block and restricting any potential passing lanes for Hansi Flick’s side.
It almost felt like a show of respect for the attacking potency that Barcelona possess, and Madrid’s clear idea seemed to be to curb the Catalans as much as possible and hope to nick a goal on the counter, which they did.
The first 45 minutes ended 2-2, with Barcelona creating the better chances but Madrid scoring two stoppage-time equalisers. However, there was one player from Hansi Flick’s team who had seen enough in the first 45 minutes and completely took over the game in the second.
Frenkie de Jong and Barcelona fans have not enjoyed the greatest relationship over the years. To this day, the Dutchman becomes an easy scapegoat when things do not go well for the team, and his brilliance is brushed aside and not celebrated like Pedri’s, for example.
However, even the most ardent of the Dutchman’s critics will find it difficult to turn a blind eye to his second-half performance against Real Madrid last night. Frenkie single-handedly played Xabi Alonso’s team out of the game with his intelligence.
Xabi had Bellingham man-mark Pedri, and the Englishman followed the Spaniard closely at his heels throughout, minimising his impact. However, Frenkie realised this, and his movement off the ball completely broke Madrid’s block.
Frenkie kept pushing further up into the right half-spaces and formed triangles with Kounde and Lamine on the right. Every time he dropped deep, he received the ball under pressure, took responsibility, and drove forward with it to put his team in a better position.
His ball retention has always been a massive strength, and last night he tried to get as close to the box as possible before finding the spare man. He realised that Madrid had two men on Lamine and often used the outside of his foot to find Kounde in acres of space.
Every time Pedri and, later, Dani Olmo saw a Madrid player pressing them, Frenkie was in the perfect position to receive a pass and move the game forward. It is quite telling that the Dutchman completed more passes in the game than Bellingham, Valverde, Camavinga, and Rodrygo combined.
If his work on the ball was a masterclass in possession, his work off the ball showed just how much he has grown defensively. Often criticised for this aspect of his game, the Dutchman’s positioning last night is a template that up-and-coming defensive midfielders around the world need to study.
Every time in the second half when Real Madrid tried to build a constructive attack, they ran into Frenkie. He covered almost every blade of grass on that pitch, and it is a shame that his night ended the way it did.
In what was perhaps his first bad decision of the entire game, Frenkie went flying into a challenge on Kylian Mbappe and caught him high on the knee. [It was a red card](https://semprebarca.com/report-reveals-the-fixture-frenkie-de-jong-will-miss-for-barcelona-after-supercopa-red-card/), albeit amid contentious refereeing throughout the game.
It is a red card that does little to dampen the night Frenkie had in Jeddah. It was a night when Barcelona fans finally realised how good the Dutchman can be in this system and, hopefully, the night when even the last remaining critics finally jump on his bandwagon.