This archive report was first published on 10 January 2020.
Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix and Barcelona's Lionel Messi were involved in a heated confrontation during their Super Cup match on January 9, 2020.
The incident occurred just before halftime, with the score still 0-0, and was sparked by a perceived grievance between Felix and Messi.
Gerard Pique intervened to separate the two players, and other players soon followed, with pushing and shoving breaking out between the two teams.
Earlier in the match, Felix had lost his temper with Barcelona's Jordi Alba, slapping his hand away.
Atletico Madrid went on to win the match 3-2, with two late goals securing their place in the final against Real Madrid.
Barcelona's defeat turned up the pressure on head coach Ernesto Valverde, who had been facing criticism for the team's mixed results this season.
Lionel Messi blasted his side's mistakes, calling them "childish" and insisting that they should have seen the game out after taking a 2-1 lead.
"It is a shame, we played a great game, after so long we felt good again, we were in control, dominated and attacked all the time," Messi said in a post-match interview.
"We let it slip through certain mistakes when [Atletico] were already almost dead. In less than 10 minutes they turned round a game that we should have seen out. It hurts because it is a title and we wanted to be in the final and win it," he added.
