Madrid down 10-man Barca for Super Cup

Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo put Madrid in control with goals inside 23 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu to take advantage of Barcelona's poor start.

Real Madrid took advantage of quick goals and an early sending off to beat 10-man Barcelona 2-1 Wednesday to win the Spanish Super Cup on away goals after the two-legged tie ended 4-4.

Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo put Madrid in control with goals inside 23 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu to take advantage of Barcelona’s poor start. Making things worse for the visitors,right back Adriano was red carded for tripping up Ronaldo as he was set to race clear in the 28th minute.

But Barca got a foothold when Lionel Messi curled home an exquisite free kick before halftime. Alex Song and Luka Modric both debuted for their clubs,with Madrid’s first victory of the season in all competitions helped to shake some of the gloom off the club’s worst start for nearly 40 years and edging it ahead of Barcelona 88-87 in all-time wins between the “clasico” rivals. Coach Jose Mourinho has now won every trophy available in Spain,England,Italy and Portugal. Barcelona hadn’t won a trophy against Madrid at the Bernabeu since 1968 and its flat start certainly made victory look unlikely.

Madrid took advantage of its rival’s worst spell of football since perhaps before Pep Guardiola took charge in 2008,as Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano missed Pepe’s long ball as it fell to Higuain inside the area for the striker to half-volley between Valdes’ legs. A short time later,Gerard Pique failed to disrupt a long ball to Ronaldo and despite his poor first touch the forward blasted a low shot past Valdes.

Barcelona,without injured defenders Dani Alves and Carles Puyol,gained some momentum only when Miguel Montoya replaced Alexis Sanchez after the red card. Soon Messi curled around the outside of the defensive wall past the outstretched Iker Casillas for his 15th goal against Madrid,a club record.

Casillas made big stops on Pedro Rodriguez in the second half before Song and Modric made their debuts. There was still time for Higuain to hit the post and Messi to shoot wide in injury time.