Another thing about the Super Cup
The Super Cup in Jeddah has left, on a separate stage, some sporting doubts the cause of which is maybe because it is called the same as it was, when it is not the same. The winners of LaLiga and the Copa del Rey have not played against each other, nor has the tournament been its usual hinge between one season and the next, but instead during winter, coexisting with early Copa ties. It has been played between four teams that qualified through sporting merits. A Tournament of Four (something that existed, briefly, in the forties) being called the Super Cup seems to falsify this one. Rubiales too, who has good ideas, is neither lucid nor prudent when explaining the invention. Rather it is the other way around.
Mou's 'worst of the season'
For me, the Super Cup was fake. In terms of popular opinion, the league champion is the best of the year, even though the cup winner is still officially called the ‘Spanish Champion’. But the Champions League door is now opened as far down as fourth in LaLiga while not handed to the team that triumphs in the cup. To call it a team the Super Cup winner seems wrong if the defeated side in the duel was actually the LaLiga champion. The Super Cup was, according to Mourinho, "the best pre-season tournament, but the worst of the official season." The thing about Jeddah was it given the same name, but it was a different thing. Another tournament, with fresh substance. And the clubs treated it with renewed passion.
Money-making Super Cup whim
The proof of this was seen with Barça's tantrum after going out against Atlético. Also in the emotion that poured out through extra-time and during the penalty shoot-out of the final, which reminded us of Lisbon and Milan. It is true that neither of the finalists were a champion of anything, but were 'invited', as Valverde pointed out disparagingly. But at three other times (Barça, Athletic and Mallorca) the Super Cup winner had likewise not been a champion, there due to being the Copa runner-up in their opponent's double year. The first of these, by the way, was when Atleti won both titles and it was an impromptu idea with the season already underway...to make more money. Until that point, the Super Cup had been awarded automatically to the team that did the double.