Athletic Bilbao hold off Barcelona to claim Spanish Super Cup
Bilbao last secured a major trophy when they won Spain’s traditional season opener in 1984 and Friday’s 4-0 drubbing of the Spanish and European champions in the first leg at the San Mamés left Barça with too much to do at the Camp Nou.
After waves of sustained pressure Lionel Messi gave the home side a 1-0 second-leg lead shortly before half-time when he chested down a clever Luis Suárez lay-off and clipped a close-range volley into the net.
Barça’s hopes suffered a blow 10 minutes into the second half when their centre-back Gerard Piqué was shown a straight red card after he strode angrily over to the side of the pitch and shouted in the referee’s assistant’s face in protest at a decision.
The incident seemed to give Barça renewed energy and Pedro and Ivan Rakitic immediately had chances to make it 2-0 before Suárez fired wildly over when through on the left.
However, the Barça defence left a gaping hole at the back 16 minutes from time and Aritz Aduriz, who netted a hat-trick in the first leg, was able to score at the second attempt past Claudio Bravo prompting wild celebrations among the Bilbao fans inside the giant arena.
Not even a late red card for the substitute Kike Sola could tarnish the Basque club’s joy as they ended Barça’s hopes of repeating their 2009 feat when they won all six competitions they contested: the Champions League, La Liga, the King’s Cup, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
No comments:
Post a Comment