Despite the dilemma of not being able to register offensive organizer Olmo and rising star Victor, Barcelona still defeated Atletico Bilbao 2-0 in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final held in Saudi Arabia in the early hours of Thursday (January 9) Singapore time, and secured their place in the final.
They will face the winner between last season’s champion Real Madrid and Mallorca in the final in the early hours of next Monday (13th).
Spanish Sports Federation intervenes, Barcelona is allowed to temporarily register Olmo and Victor
Barcelona signed Olmo and Victor last summer, but because the club could not meet the salary cap conditions of La Liga, it could only register the two players in the first half of this season.
Last Saturday (4th), the Spanish Football Association and La Liga both rejected Barcelona’s request to register the two players in the second half of this season, and Olmo and Victor were therefore not included in Barcelona’s list for the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals. However, the Spanish Supreme Sports Council intervened four days later and allowed Barcelona to temporarily register the two players, which means that Olmer and Victor will be able to appear in the Spanish Super Cup final this weekend.
Barcelona coach Flick said after learning the news: “The whole team is happy about this correct decision. We want to prove that we are a team, and this victory is also for them.”
Gavi assisted and scored
In this match against Bilbao, Spanish international Gavi opened the door to victory for Barcelona in the 17th minute. Gavi replaced Olmer as an attacking midfielder in this game. This was his first goal for the team since he suffered a serious knee injury last season.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Gavi played a key role again, assisting Yamal to score and rewriting the score to 2-0. Bilbao actually scored two goals afterwards, but unfortunately both goals were ruled invalid due to offside.
Inaki Williams, one of the players whose goal was disallowed, said: “It’s a shame we didn’t score with the performance we had… but there are still many good things ahead of us and we have to keep going.”
