Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-2 to claim the trophy in the Spanish Super Cup final.
Some finals are decided by a moment of genius, while others rely on silent guardianship—at the back, silently holding up the entire team with steady hands and a calm mind. Barcelona’s triumph in this Spanish Super Cup would not have been possible without one man: Joan García.
Just six months after joining Barca, making his debut in the El Clásico, the Catalan goalkeeper lifted the first club trophy of his career—and it was a first title won as a starter. He not only changed his own fate but also continued the new glory of the Blaugrana.
Admittedly, he conceded two goals in the game. But he really couldn’t be blamed for those two goals. Vinícius and Gonzalo’s shots were world-class; no goalkeeper could have done much. Such goals conceded did not affect the evaluation of him at all, but rather highlighted his reliability for the rest of the game.
When Real Madrid launched attacks, Joan remained a pillar of strength throughout. In the entire match, he made 7 saves, 4 of which were acrobatic diving saves, and 6 occurred inside the penalty area; his pass accuracy reached as high as 89%, and he also completed 10 ball recoveries. These figures are not just impressive, but also show the temperament and decisive value of a top goalkeeper.
Vinícius was undoubtedly the biggest threat to him in the game, with both cut-ins and shots from the wing being highly lethal. But apart from Real Madrid’s first goal, Joan defused almost all of the Brazilian’s subsequent attacks. Shortly after the start of the game, he made a crucial one-on-one save to deny Vinícius a one-on-one chance, setting the tone for the entire match. Later, he blocked Gonzalo’s close-range shot. The most unforgettable moment was in stoppage time, when he steadily caught Asensio and Carreras’ close-range shots one after another—as if his gloves had a magnetic pull, turning a crisis that could have led to a penalty shootout into nothing.
What’s even more remarkable is his calmness. Faced with intensive crosses and chaotic scenes in front of the goal in the final moments, he made saves high and low, unflustered. Every time he made a save, his teammates swarmed around him to celebrate as if they had scored a goal. He did not flinch in aerial duels, with clean and neat movements, no unnecessary expressions, and no emotional fluctuations—such a goalkeeper brings not passion, but peace of mind; not panic, but order. He never passes anxiety on to his teammates, only leaving confidence behind him.
Although this game ended his record of 517 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in 5 official matches (a result that ranks 12th in Barca’s club history), his influence not only did not diminish but became even more dazzling.
In fact, Joan already won an Olympic gold medal with the Spain U23 Olympic team in 2024, but the starting goalkeeper position at that time belonged to Arnau Tenas, who now plays for Villarreal. That gold medal belonged to the team; this time, the meaning is completely different—it is truly his own glory.
When he left Espanyol, he was chasing his dream of winning a championship. Unexpectedly, the dream came so quickly: in just half a year, he stood on the highest podium.
He has always been low-key and unassuming, but he couldn’t hide his excitement on the championship night in Jeddah: standing in the center of the celebrating crowd, wearing a gold medal around his neck, holding the trophy, making a big "1" gesture with his hand, his face full of uncontrollable joy—because the first championship is always the most special and precious.
His excellent recent performances have sparked intense discussions about the goalkeeper position in the Spanish national team in the past few weeks. And all this is by no means a fleeting highlight. Today’s Joan García is already Spain’s best goalkeeper and one of the most decisive goalkeepers in world football today. For him, participating in the World Cup should no longer be a debate about whether he should go, but an inevitable outcome that comes naturally.
