Spanish Super Cup Report: Barcelona 1-1 Athletic Bilbao 17 August 2015
Lionel Messi
Spanish Super Cup Result: Barcelona 1-1 (1-5 agg) Athletic Bilbao Date: 17 August 2015 Venue: Camp Nou Barcelona drew 1-1 in the second leg of their Spanish Super Cup clash with Athletic Bilbao on Monday night, losing 5-1 on aggregate. The Catalans made their intentions clear in the opening exchanges and came agonisingly close to opening the scoring in only the sixth minute. A corner kick was taken short and lofted into the area for Gerard Pique to pounce on, but his half-volley hit the woodwork. Lionel Messi had a free kick in a promising position in the 31st minute and curled the ball towards the top left corner of the Athletic goal, but it was too high and dropped onto the roof of the net. The Argentine maestro finally found the breakthrough for the hosts in the 43rd minute. Rakitic crossed towards Luis Suarez who chested it into Messi's path, and the Barca superstar volleyed into the back of the net. However, the home side's progress was stinted in the 56th minute as Pique was sent off. The centre-back seemed to verbally abuse the assistant referee after a call didn't go his way and he was consequently sent off, leaving Barca with 10 men and a mountain to climb. Barcelona's dreams of a late flurry of goals came to a screeching halt in the 74th minute as Aritz Aduriz netted for Athletic to bury the hosts. A Barca defence in disarray allowed Aduriz to stroll into space to get a one-on-one with Bravo. The keeper made the initial save but the ball came back to Aduriz who slotted it on the second attempt to secure the Super Cup for the traveling side. In the last five minutes Athletic were also reduced to 10 men when Kike Sola was sent off with a straight red card for a terrible challenge, but it wasn't enough to help Barca who lost 5-1 on aggregate.
