Real Madrid out to avoid past mistakes as they face Barcelona in Super Cup final

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti believes his side have learned from an El Clasico thrashing in October as they prepare to face Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final.

Barcelona ended a four-match losing run against Real in style as Robert Lewandowski bagged a second-half brace and Lamine Yamal and Raphinha struck in the final quarter of an hour to seal a 4-0 mauling at the Bernabeu.

However, Real sit atop LaLiga at the halfway stage of the season, five points ahead of third-placed Barca, who have recorded just one win and two draws from their past seven matches in the top flight.

As Real look to pile on the misery, Ancelotti insisted they will not make the same errors in Jeddah on Sunday evening that proved their undoing when they last came up against their fierce rivals.

“Of course we’ll have to think about the first Clasico of the season when they beat us,” Ancelotti said at his pre-match press conference. “We started well but we ran into problems in the second half.

“We have to see a repeat of the things we did well and avoid the mistakes we made later. A Clasico is a Clasico and the pressure is even greater in a final.

“It’s a really unpredictable game. We are very clear about what we have to do to reduce our risk factors, but nobody can predict the result because so many things come into play.

“What we can control is how we conduct the game and I’m certain we’ll do that very well. That said, that won’t determine the result 100 per cent.”

Real booked their spot in the showpiece by brushing aside Mallorca 3-0 to set up a repeat of last year’s final, which Ancelotti’s side won 4-1 largely thanks to Vinicius Junior’s hat-trick.

Jude Bellingham is likely to shrug off a minor muscle strain to feature this weekend, while Ancelotti is paying no attention to the uproar surrounding Barcelona’s Dani Olmo.

Barcelona’s bid to register Olmo was rejected by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) and LaLiga last Saturday but the forward has been temporarily reinstated by the country’s sports council.

“We have to try and stop a great talent, he’s a strong player and he’s shown that time and again,” Ancelotti said. “We have to try and negate some of his quality with our defending.”

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick suggested Olmo could have some involvement at King Abdullah Sports City despite missing their 2-0 semi-final victory over Athletic Bilbao at the same venue.

“Dani Olmo is very happy to be able to play again,” Flick said.

Flick is aiming to win his first trophy with Barcelona, which he hopes would bode well for the remainder of their campaign.

“It’s a big game for everyone, it’s a Clasico in the Super Cup,” Flick added. “It would be fantastic if we could win. It will be a boost for our confidence going into the rest of the season.”

“The way we want to play is the Barca way, which did us so well in the last Clasico. We won’t be doing anything different.

“But one Clasico can’t be compared with the other. We will start from 0-0 and we just want to play well and win.”