Athletic hold Barca to win Supercopa

Andy West 06:05 18/08/2015
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  • Champions: Athletic.

    Barcelona had promised fireworks, but in the end their Spanish Super Cup challenge fizzled out as Athletic Bilbao comfortably protected their advantage to claim their first piece of silverware since 1984.

    An opening goal from Lionel Messi on the stroke of half-time briefly raised the hosts’ hopes, but in reality that was only an isolated outbreak of optimism amid another disjointed performance from last season’s treble winners.

    Gerard Pique’s immature dismissal for dissent early in the second half killed off the contest, and another worrying defensive lapse allowed Friday’s hat-trick hero Aritz Aduriz to level and give the visitors a deserved draw.

    Barca desperately needed an early goal to spark their comeback, and they very nearly had it when Pique raced onto a left-wing cross following a corner and sent a powerful close-range strike thumping against the crossbar.

    At that stage Athletic were being forced to defend for their lives, with Barca playing at a furious pace in search of the opening goal. But Athletic did a good job in gradually slowing down the game, and the fire was being extinguished from Barca’s challenge.

    Around the half-hour mark three chances came and went in quick succession, with Pedro producing an air shot from a well-worked corner, Messi sending a free-kick onto the roof of the net and Andres Iniesta blazing badly over.

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    By then, it was starting to look like this would not be Barca’s night, and the visitors then squandered a glorious chance to seal the trophy when a poor pass from Pedro allowed Javier Eraso to surge through, but the midfielder could only shoot into the side-netting when passing to the unmarked Aduriz was the best option.

    Just when it seemed Athletic would reach the interval unscathed, Barca breathed new life into the encounter with the opening goal as Ivan Rakitic crossed, Luis Suarez chested down and Messi side-footed home from close range.

    The tension in the air was evident when the goal was followed by a scuffle as visiting goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz grabbed the ball in the back of the net and wasted time by refusing to let go, before home boss Luis Enrique was left enraged as referee Carlos Velasco only added one minute of stoppage time.

    Another goal early in the second half would have really set the Nou Camp rocking, but the anticipated onslaught failed to materialise as Athletic remained meticulously organised in defence.

    And Barca’s task was then rendered practically impossible by the dismissal of Pique, who was shown a straight red card for vociferously and foolishly contesting a non-awarded offside decision with the linesman.

    Pedro and Rakitic missed opportunities for the ten men, and the game was becoming increasingly scrappy and ill-tempered as referee Velasco proceeded to issue cards with abandon.

    Understandably, Barca were starting to look stretched at the back as they continued to throw men forward in search of more goals. But there was no excuse for their abysmal defending when Athletic levelled, as Jeremy Mathieu stayed back when his team-mates advanced, leaving Aduriz onside and with oceans of space to score at the second attempt.

    Visiting substitute Kike Sola was sent off for a late challenge on Javier Mascherano, but that failed to dampen Athletic’s joyous and long overdue celebrations.

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