Sitting above Barcelona in LaLiga, Real Madrid were hoping to land another body blow on their rivals in the Supercopa de Espana final.
Los Blancos got off to a flying start when Kylian Mbappe broke the deadlock five minutes into the game, with the Frenchman dancing through the Barcelona backline and tucking home a tidy right-footed finish.
However, that would prove the only high point for them on what would turn out to be a long and painful evening.
Barcelona turned the game on its head and netted four times before the break, with their vicious fightback being sparked by a similarly scintillating goal from Lamine Yamal, with the Spanish teen cutting inside on his deadly left foot, before squeezing the ball beyond Thibaut Courtois for a leveller.
The Blaugrana were now on top, and Robert Lewandowski fired Barcelona ahead from the spot after Eduardo Camavinga hacked down Gavi in the box.
They weren’t done there though, as Raphinha converted Jules Koundé’s whipped cross into the top corner with a thumping header just three minutes later.
And Barcelona added further to Real Madrid’s woes with the last kick of the half, this time it was Alejandro Balde etching his name onto the scoresheet with a tidy first-time finish from 15 yards out.
It was an incredible conclusion to an astonishing 45 minutes that couldn’t have gone much worse for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
And the drama continued into the second period, with Barcelona adding a fifth shortly after the restart.
Exploiting the space behind Real Madrid’s defence, Raphinha galloped away from his markers, before cutting back onto his left foot and finding the bottom corner.
Ancelotti’s men were then handed an unlikely route back into the contest when Wojciech Szczesny, who had come steaming out of his net, caught Mbappe’s ankle and was shown a red card.
It proved a double blow for Barcelona, as Rodrygo found the net from the resulting free kick.
In the end, Barcelona waltzed to this season’s first piece of Spanish silverware.
Despite some moments of shakiness at the back, they were good money for their victory, and on another day could’ve easily had more than the five goals to their name.
If there’s any consolation for Real, they still hold the all-time head-to-head advantage in Supercopa fixtures against the Catalans (W10, D2, L6), though they will struggle to live this one down for a long time.