News Archive

Spanish Super Cup, second leg

Barcelona 1 - Athletic 1

Athletic Bilbao won the Spanish Super Cup after beating Barcelona 5-1 on aggregate! The 4-0 result from the first leg had virtually ended the contest, but Luis Enrique put out his strongest available side hoping for a miraculous turnaround in a packed Nou Camp. At half time it looked as if they may just do that, Piqué hitting the bar and Messi firing a free kick over the top before Luis Suárez chested back a Rakitic cross for Messi to open the scoring on the stroke of half time. But Eraso had missed a good chance shortly before that, and Bravo had to save from Susaeta and Aduríz early on in the second half as the visitors looked to score on the breakaway. Soon afterwards Barça were left with ten men when Piqué was shown a red card for insulting a linesman, and although Rakitic and Suárez went close, Aduríz took advantage of some sloppy defending to wrap things up after De Marcos headed a long punt into his path with a quarter of an hour to go. That ended Luis Enrique’s hopes of emulating Guardiola’s six cups in a calendar year, and Athletic had won their first trophy since their league and cup double way back in 1984. (17.08.15)