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Barcelona sporting director Deco has reiterated the club's faith in manager Xavi despite the heavy 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final in Riyadh on Sunday (January 14).
Vinicius Junior starred with a first-half hat-trick, opening the scoring inside seven minutes and breaking into Cristiano Ronaldo's iconic Siu celebration. Three minutes later, he doubled Madrid's lead before Robert Lewandowski reduced arrears in the 33rd minute.
The Madrid attacker, though, completed his hat-trick six minutes later to restore the La Liga leaders' two-goal advantage. Rodrygo Goes added gloss to the scoreline in the 64th minute to make it a convincing win for Carlo Ancelotti's side and seal their first trophy of the season.
Despite Barca failing to defend their Super Cup crown amidst their faltering La Liga title defence - seven points behind leaders Los Blancos - Deco said that the club are not looking beyond manager Xavi at the moment.
“Questions about Xavi make no sense," the Portuguese said (as per Barca News Network). He (Xavi) has full confidence from all of us. This defeat doesn’t change our plans.”
Barca return to action on Thursday (January 18) with a trip to Unionistas in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 before travelling to Real Betis in La Liga three days later.
"We deserved to win it" - Real Madrid boss after Super Cup win over Barcelona
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said that his side were deserved winners in the Spanish Super Cup following their superb start.
Madrid were two goals up inside 10 minutes at Al-Nassr's Al-Awwal park, capitalising on Barcelona's high defensive line, and never looked back. They eventually won by three goals to win the Super Cup for the second time in three years.
"We wanted to win the final," said Ancelotti (as per Los Blancos' website). "We deserved to win it. We got off to a good start and took advantage of the high line at the beginning.
"Vinicius was in extraordinary form, and from there, another game started. Barcelona controlled the ball and tried to look for opportunities. It was hard for us to get it back. Right up until 4-1, the game was open, and we tried to control it. In the second half, the team was very good at the back, and we put in a very complete performance".
Los Blancos return to action in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 on Thursday at Atletico Madrid, the same day when Barcelona visit Unionistas.
