On Wednesday, a Messi-less Barcelona managed to beat Real Sociedad on penalties to move into the final of the Spanish Super Cup.

Messi was ruled out of the game due to muscle injury, and coach Ronald Koeman fielded a front three of Braithwaite, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele.

Pedri, Busquets and Frenkie De Jong were lined in the midfield and a back four of Jordi Alba, Lenglet, Araujo and Mingueza with Ter Stegen in goal.

It was Dutch midfielder Frenkie De Jong who opened the scoring for the Catalans six minutes before half-time.

Immediately after half-time, Real Sociedad got their chance to equalize as Frenkie De Jong handled the ball in the box and after a lengthy VAR review, Mikel Oryazabal put the ball past Ter Steven in goal for Barcelona.

Neither sides got the winner after that and into extra time as the game went into penalties. Barcelona managed to win the penalty shoot-out 3-2.

Frenkie De Jong and Antoine Griezmann missed penalties for Barcelona while Mikel Oryazabal, William Jose and Jon Bautista missed for Real Sociedad. Youngster Riqui Puig scored the decisive last penalty for Barca.

Barcelona will face the winner of the second semi-final between Real Madrid and Atletico Bilbao.

Real Madrid is on a nine-match unbeaten run with seven wins, and two draws in all competitions while Bilbao has just two wins in their last nine games.

The final of the Supercopa on the 17th of January.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are second and third respectively, Zinedine Zidane’s men have 37 points in 18 games trailing city rivals Atletico with 4 points although Diego Simeone’s side has two games outstanding.

Barcelona is seven points away from the top of the log and three 3 points away from Real Madrid, who are second on the log.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu