With Real Madrid 3-1 up on Barcelona from the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup you might think Wednesday’s second leg at the Bernabeu will be an uneventful formality.
Here, Sportsmail picks out five to look out for as Barcelona look to overturn their two-goal deficit in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup final
The day changing at the start of the second half.
Yes that’s right, an 11pm kick-off local time means the first half will be played on Wednesday but the second half will take place on Thursday. And if there’s extra time, by the time he has had his post-match rub-down massage Gareth Bale will be getting to bed about 3am.
Madrid fans are incensed at Cristiano Ronaldo’s five-game ban for getting sent off and pushing the referee in the first game and plan to wave their white handkerchiefs before the match kicks off.
The traditional Spanish protest is not so easy to carry off these days – on account of very few people carrying handkerchiefs – but it has been well advertised by various supporters’ groups so plastic bags and paper tissues at the ready.
#BartomeuDimiteYa (Bartomeu resign now) has become a global trending topic in recent days. Even the 2015 Miss Bumbum winner model Suzy Cortez has got involved by tweeting the hashtag. She’s a big Messi fan apparently.
Barcelona supporters are upset about the sale of Neymar and the failure to make exciting signings. Agusti Benedito is trying to gather the 16k signatures he needs for the vote of confidence that would force a new election.
Meanwhile, Joan Laporta waits in the wings ready to return. A heavy defeat and the Barça supporters inside the stadium will also have the white handkerchiefs out
It was four months ago when Leo Messi scored with the last kick of the game to win the Clasico 3-2.
It was his 500th career goal for Barcelona and the iconic image of him holding his No 10 shirt aloft will live long in the memory. If Barça have any chance of coming back from 3-1 down then he will need to be at his best.
And he’ll need some help from Luis Suarez too. The Uruguayan has just one goal in pre-season but he did win the penalty on Sunday that keeps Barça in this one
There were moments during the first game when tempers flared. Sergio Ramos tried to drag Suarez to his feet after he dived for the penalty, Marcelo clashed with Samuel Umtiti and Isco and Rakitic even had a run-in.
Wednesday night is bound to be feisty. Barça will be spiky if they are getting trounced on aggregate and if they make a comeback then that will bring out the worst in Madrid.
There’s a trophy at stake after all and the Super Cup is taken far more seriously in Spain than the Community Shield in England.
