Football Update - Barcelona wins Spanish Super Cup
The first leg of Spanish Super Cup was played in Sevilla, which ended with a 3-1 aggregate in favour of the home side. Barcelona, however, did not play most of their first team players, due to which they lost the match with a significant score.
The second leg was played in Camp Nou, and this time Pep Guardiola did not take any chances. Xavi and Sergio Busquets were present in the central midfield, while Pedro, Lionel Messi and Bojan started as the front three. The other main players were sitting on the bench to give Guardiola a possibility of substitution in the case of urgency. However, the game was controlled by Barcelona throughout the 90 minutes, while Sevilla could do only a little as they lost Super Cup on an aggregate of 5-3.
Barcelona knew that they were far behind on aggregate; therefore, they built the pressure on Sevilla from the very beginning. The Catalans hardly gave away any possession; while the whole game was being played in Sevilla’s half. In the 14th minute, an incredible dribbling run by Pedro got Sevilla on the back foot, while a low cross fed by him was put inside the goal by Sevilla’s own defender, Abdoulay Konko.
Despite an early goal, Barcelona remained behind on aggregate, so they continued to maintain the early pressure. In the 25th minute of the match, Catalans were rewarded as Xavi played an incredible through ball between the two centre-backs of Sevilla. The pass was met on the other side by Lionel Messi who showed no hesitation in scoring his first goal of the season.
At that point, Barcelona went ahead of Sevilla on the basis of away goal rule, so they decided to control the game in the midfield. At this point, Xavi played an incredible role as he did not let the ball go from Barcelona’s possession, while rotating the possession from one flank to other. Xavi was running the whole show, as Sevilla could not do anything to stop this incredible display of passing in the midfield.
However, there were still more goals to come, as a brilliant move on the right hand side saw Dani Alves cutting in towards the penalty area. At the edge of penalty area, Alves played a low cross to Lionel Messi, who had made his way to the right post. Messi shot the ball inside the goal as Sevilla’s keeper, Andres Palop, could not do anything to stop the ferocious strike.
In the second half, Barcelona continued to dominate Sevilla, in the same manner as in first half. In the 57th minute, Barcelona made first substitutions, as Andres Iniesta came in for Bojan and David Villa made his debut for Barcelona, as he came on in place of Pedro. Sevilla made their three substitutions in 62nd minute, as they also brought on Luis Fabiano in place of Diego Capel.
With Fabiano in the side, Sevilla started to re-group a little. They started looking dangerous on the right hand side, as Jesus Navas made some incredible runs, as Barcelona decided to lay-back for a little while. At this point, Barcelona played a counter-attacking game, and looked as dangerous as before. However, Sevilla was not able to get any goal, while Barcelona had more clear chances, as David Villa’s volley was palmed out of the goal by Palop.
In the 90th minute of the match, there was another incredible move by Barcelona, involving Andres Iniesta and David Villa. Iniesta made his run into the penalty area, and before going down, played a pass backwards towards the centre of the box. This time, once again, Lionel Messi was at the receiving end, scoring easily to get his first hat-trick of this season. Barcelona, therefore, won their first silverware of this season, while they showed a promise to win many more. All the players looked fit and in form, as the doubts about Lionel Messi have been shredded.
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