Barcelona advanced to the Spanish Supercopa final after beating Real Sociedad 3-2 in a penalty loss after a 1-1 draw after extra time.
The Catalans played Wednesday’s semifinal in Cordoba without the services of captain Lionel Messi, who was sidelined with an undisclosed injury that saw him sidelined from last week’s league win over Granada.
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Barca advance to the final of the tournament – which will feature last season’s La Liga winners and runners-up and the Copa del Rey – with the next semifinal set for Thursday against Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in Malaga. The final will be held at the La Cartuja Stadium in Seville on Sunday.
Barcelona took the lead in the first half with acrobatic boss Frenkie de Jong, after Antoine Griezmann selected his Dutch team-mate for the beautiful goal.
But The Real the match equalized in the 51st minute when VAR confirmed that the ball hit De Jong’s arm on a cross into the box, with Mikel Oyarzabal changing the successful kick off the spot.
Both teams went back and forth with several good shots all the time, but it was not possible for either side to find the second goal before the penalties decided the game.
Both De Jong and Griezmann lost their efforts in the penalty shootout but Ousmane Dembele, Miralem Pjanic, and Ricard Puig took chances. Mikel Merino and Adnan Januzaj turned for the Basque side.