Despite the bitter loss, Thibaut Courtois still directly pointed out Barcelona's 'nightmare'.

After a 2-3 loss to Barcelona in the 2026 Spanish Super Cup final, Real Madrid was left with many regrets, with Thibaut Courtois stating that the team squandered too many opportunities even though Vinícius Júnior shone brightly.

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois admitted that Real Madrid wasted too many chances in their 2-3 defeat against Barcelona in the 2026 Spanish Super Cup final.

Speaking after the match, Courtois said Real started too cautiously in the first half: “In the first half, we played too defensively. In the second half, they dropped off a bit, we created chances but the ball simply refused to go into the net.”

The Belgian goalkeeper emphasized that small moments made the difference: “The first goal we conceded came from a mistake; the ball hit the far post and went in. The third goal was deflected after touching Raúl… Those details decided the game. We had chances, but most went straight into Joan García’s hands.”

Courtois also praised Vinícius Jr, who scored a stunning goal in this El Clásico: “We have complete faith in Vinícius. He troubled Barcelona’s players throughout the match. Today, Vinícius was truly a nightmare for them, but we failed to capitalize on that version of Vinícius as we should have. His goal was an absolute golazo.”

The narrow loss caused Real Madrid to miss the chance to claim their first title of 2026, marking their first defeat in an El Clásico under coach Xabi Alonso's era.

Despite efforts to equalize at 2-2 just before the end of the first half, Real Madrid was completely stuck in the second half. The white team couldn’t score again and had to accept a narrow defeat in the first El Clásico of 2026.

The most controversial moment came in the 82nd minute, with Real Madrid trailing 2-3. Xabi Alonso unexpectedly substituted Vinícius Jr (who had scored and was the most dangerous attacker) for Franco Mastantuono. However, the young talent failed to make a significant impact in the remaining time.

This puzzling substitution immediately made Xabi Alonso the focus of criticism from Madridista fans on social media platform X (Twitter). Many supporters expressed frustration, believing that removing Vinícius Jr directly weakened Real Madrid’s attacking power.