Athletic Bilbao hold off Barcelona to claim Spanish Super Cup

Athletic Bilbao
claimed their first silverware in three decades when they wrapped up a
5-1 aggregate win over 10-man Barcelona to win the Spanish Super Cup on
Monday.
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.