Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Spanish Super Cup, 5 Talking Points

2. Why is no one talking about Barcelona's defence?

Pique had an absolute nightmare

Yes, Neymar needs replacement. Yes, Iniesta needs replacement. Yes, Busquets could use a back-up. The woes and shortcomings of Barcelona's midfield have been analysed to death this summer, but there's one important element the analysis always misses out on - their defence.

While the addition of Nelson Semedo was a much-needed one, there is simply no excuse for Barca to have utterly let go of their backline in such a manner - for a while now their defence has been held together by the colossal presence that is Gerard Pique, but if that man has an off day, the Catalans are there for the taking - as the second half of today's match illustrated perfectly. And boy, did he have an off day:

Pique's own goal is better with the titanic music pic.twitter.com/kobjCN3YwN

— Rk (@RkFutbol) August 14, 2017

While the OG was not his fault, come on - it's cruel to blame it on him - he simply had no answer to either Ronaldo or Asensio when they came at him full tilt and was turned a little too easily for both their goals.

For a while now, Barca's defence has been creaking - Javier Mascherano was just a temporary quick-fix solution that became permanent because of what was in front of him, and Samuel Umtiti is not a solution for anything - and it's quite amazing that the Barcelona board have done little to address this issue. When Barcelona come calling, very few footballers can refuse - and you'd have assumed that they'd have such a long-standing issue sorted by now.

There's still to correct it if the board acts quickly enough, but the one thing Josep Bartomeu has shown during his Presidency is that unless it involves a corporate sponsorship deal, the board does nothing quickly.