Asensio steals show to conquer Messi & Co
MARCO Asensio and Karim Benzema scored brilliant first-half goals as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-0 on the night to register a resounding 5-1 aggregate Supercopa win.
Zinedine Zidane’s side, comfortable 3-1 first-leg winners on Sunday, put Cristiano Ronaldo’s five-game ban behind them by outplaying their arch-rivals again as moments of magic from Asensio and Benzema put them out of sight.
Asensio’s superb, swerving early strike set the tone at the Bernabeu and Benzema added a second six minutes before half-time.
Ernesto Valverde’s side improved in the second period, with both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez seeing efforts hit the woodwork, but Real were in cruise control.
Madrid pair Gareth Bale and Isco were left on the bench, while Barca were without injured captain Andres Iniesta.
Barca found themselves behind in the fourth minute when Asensio followed up his fine goal in the first leg by slamming home a left-foot shot from 30 yards, which left goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen stranded.
Messi had been anonymous for the first 16 minutes, but briefly threatened with brilliant footwork in the box and then his ball across the face of goal eluded Luis Suarez.
Asensio had another shot blocked after combining with Benzema and Toni Kroos fired wide before Lucas Vazquez almost made it 2-0 on the night when his curling shot hit the crossbar.
But Real did get a deserved second when Benzema pounced ahead of flat-footed defender Samuel Umtiti in the 39th minute and turned sharply to fire home a low shot into the bottom corner.
Messi burst into life again in the 53rd minute, dancing past two defenders to crash an angled shot against the crossbar and although Barca improved after the break they still lacked real cohesion.
Suarez’s diving header came back off the outside of a post in the 71st minute.
But Real had visibly eased off. Asensio and Kroos were both withdrawn and Los Blancos were content to sit back and repel Barca’s ponderous forays forward.ing Sunday night’s Supercopa de Espana 3-1.