Barcelona wins Spanish Super Cup

• Posted on August 15, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The only surprise was that it took three attempts. Luis Suarez wasted two good chances before he eventually found the net but eventually the forward found his shooting boots, with Munir El Haddadi adding a second to give Barcelona a commanding lead in the Spanish Super Cup final.

A poor first-half display gave way to a much improved second, with Barcelona slowly finding their rhythm as Sevilla faded away, in a repeat of last season’s Copa del Rey final that ended with the same result.

Luis Enrique surprised all and sundry by picking Jeremy Mathieu over Lucas Digne at left-back, who had impressed in pre-season in Jordi Alba’s absence.

His dedication to his men from last year continued with Arda Turan playing in the stead of Neymar, who is at the Olympic Games, while Sergi Roberto was played out of position at right-back instead of Aleix Vidal, with the coach considering him a safer pair of hands after he impressed there last season when utilised.

Sevilla fans were in good voice and waved free scarves provided by the club, who also brought out their three Europa League trophies won over the past three seasons for the supporters to admire.

Luis Suarez should have hushed them in the sixth minute, but gave Sergio Rico too much of a chance with his outside-of-the-boot shot, after Sergio Busquets threaded him through and the Uruguayan turned brilliantly to get in on goal.

Sevilla worked their way into the game quickly, with Jorge Sampaoli’s men putting Barcelona under a lot of pressure, although good defending, by Javier Mascherano in particular, kept the Andalusians at bay.

At the other end Messi pressed well and robbed Rami but Sevilla did well to snuff out his dribble as he charged on into the area.

It was a painful first-half for Barcelona, who were forced to hand Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez debuts after Jeremy Mathieu injured his hamstring and then Andres Iniesta hurt his knee after a challenge from Gabriel Mercado, which was hard but fair.

Immediate reports suggested he may miss the next two to three weeks, but if Denis continues playing like he did here, that won’t be too much of a problem for the Catalans. Sporting the No 6, the midfielder pulled off a pass Xavi Hernandez himself would have been pleased with, in the build-up to the opening goal.

Denis Suarez clipped the ball into the area for Arda to chest down into the path of Luis Suarez, who made amends for two earlier misses by dispatching this one with the type of cool finish that saw him rack up an astonishing 59 goals last season.

It was almost 2-0 moments later when the Uruguayan striker played in Messi, but his chipped effort was brilliantly saved by Sergio Rico, who was the only Sevilla player that didn’t seem to be drowning in quicksand in the first few minutes of the second half.

The Andalusians’ slow-down was, perhaps, inevitable, after they played 120 minutes against Real Madrid on Tuesday night in the UEFA Super Cup, which they lost in the final minute of extra-time to a Dani Carvajal wonder-goal.

Barcelona know what it’s like to play a Spanish Super Cup right after a European one, having beaten Sevilla last season 5-4 after extra-time, before being tonked 4-0 by Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of the 2015-16 edition of this competition.

This was a much improved showing, after a patient pre-season that saw them stick to playing in Europe, instead of a far-flung tour of the United States.

The first effort Claudio Bravo had to deal with was actually a Mascherano clearance with 15 minutes to go, which cannoned back towards his goal as he was closed down, but the Chilean dealt with it well.

Eventually Barcelona got the second goal, with Munir El Haddadi tucking the ball home after Messi played him in with a long, low pass that split the defence.

This was a quiet performance from the No 10 on the whole, but even when he’s still reaching for his best form and fitness he can provide a killer ball like that to help settle the game.

Munir, for his part, put in a lively cameo that should suggest to Barcelona they don’t need to add a new striker to the squad as back-up for the ‘MSN’ attack, although the club’s search continues.

The second leg takes place at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night, but barring a stunning comeback from Sevilla, Barcelona can already start making space for the cup in their trophy cabinet.

-dailymail