UEFA Super Cup: Barcelona vs Sevilla

Two Spanish clubs, two European champions entered the Dinamo Arena in Georgia last evening, as UEFA Champions League winners, FC Barcelona, took on UEFA Europa League winners, Sevilla in the European Super Cup Final.In a repeat of the 2006 final, where Dani Alves was part of the Sevilla side that beat Barcelona 3-0, the fans inside the stadium and the viewers watching at home were hoping for a fast, action-packed game and the two teams did not disappoint – scoring a total of nine goals, four of them in the each half and a decider in extra time. Barcelona ran out winners with the odd goal in the nine, after taking a 4-1 lead and losing it in the second half.

#1 Messi Magic and the early set-pieces

Unsurprisingly, Messi, had an incredible game scoring two goals from free kicks

The fans had barely found their seats when Sevilla’s Ever Banega handed the less-favoured team a shock lead, with a curling free-kick from 20 yards out. Minutes later, Lionel Messi replicated that same free-kick on the other end, leveling the scores.

Sevilla’s physical style of play resulted in multiple fouls throughout the first half, especially on Messi and Suarez. Less than 10 minutes after his first goal, another free-kick from Messi, about 25 metres away from goal, but the exact same result. This one had more power and found its way to the top right corner, giving Beto no chance, much like the previous one.

The precise free kicks had the commentators discussing plans to stop Messi, who, at the time, was two out of two in the game. ‘No need for a wall’, said one of them, as the match went on and social media exploded in praise for Messi’s goals.

Sevilla continued to bully Messi when he had the ball, double-teaming him even when he wasn’t close to the attacking penalty box, and close to the touchline, but the Argentinian international managed to outfox both his markers, and proceeded to pass to his teammates in free positions.

The 28-year-old showed why he is the best player in the world, as he took on every tackle, every challenge thrown at him by the Sevilla players and ran towards the goal with the ball at his feet.

Last week’s incident against Roma, which had Messi in the news for all the wrong reasons will now be forgotten as the footballing world goes back to loving the maestro for what he is best at – playing football.

#2 Sevilla is a work in progress

The likes of Ever Banega (L) still has a lot to prove for Sevilla

Sevilla had as much of a chance of winning the UEFA Super Cup Final as favourites Barcelona, especially after their comeback in the second half. However, the team is far from a finished product.

After the departures of Carlos Bacca and Aleix Vidal, the club has signed nine first-team players for the new season but only two made the starting line-up while three more came on as substitutes.

Since winning the UEFA Europa league last season gave them an entry into this year’s UEFA Champions League, Sevilla will have to not only improve the team but have them gel together as a unit. This performance against Barcelona was a positive one in the end, with the team coming back from the dead only to finish slightly short of its goal, but the players looked out of sorts in the beginning of the match, giving away cheap possession and committing lazy fouls.

While the quantity of players signed is a positive sign of progress, it will be interesting to see if the manager, Unai Emery, can sign a couple of players of real quality – especially in the striking department to challenge Immobile and Gameiro. With the inclusion of Gael Kakuta and Steven N’zonzi, Sevilla may be a force to be reckoned with in the La Liga and UEFA Champions League.

#3 Taking Iniesta off: a tactical error

Andres Iniesta should've stayed on the pitch throughout

Even as Messi scored his brace and continued to dominate the thoughts of the opposition, Andreas Iniesta ran the show behind him. The Spanish midfielder always appeared to be in space, and his forays into the opposition box threatened each and every time. He was ready to take on the opposition and dribble past them with relative ease, creating chances for his teammates.

Even defensively, the Barcelona No. 8’s presence in the centre of the park destroyed any Sevilla momentum before it became dangerous with the help of midfield partner, Sergio Busquets, but Iniesta was taken off in the 63rd minute for Sergi Roberto, after Sevilla’s Reyes had already brought it back to a two-goal deficit.

The momentum from the goal and lack of control in the midfield after Iniesta’s departure meant Sevilla started getting into the game, rivalling Barcelona for possession and dominating in the midfield. After the substitution of Iniesta, Barcelona took the foot off the pedal, Messi dropped deeper, isolating Suarez at the top and minimizing his impact.

Keeping Iniesta on for another ten minutes could’ve killed off any counters from the opposition and avoided the near-defeat for Barcelona, as his replacement, Roberto, found himself in the attacking zone far too many times and that resulted in the defence falling short of numbers during counter attacks.

#4 Barcelona\'s defensive frailties

Pique aside, Barcelona's defense needs slightly-younger blood

The average age of the Barcelona back-line that started the Super Cup Final was 31 years, and Gerard Pique was the youngest of the four at 28 years of age.

The aging Barcelona back-line had trouble coping up with a strong, fast and efficient Sevilla attack, especially in the second half as Sevilla started using their wide players to cross the ball into their strikers and got a hold of the ball in the centre of the park.

Lack of match fitness or not, the opposition wingers exploited the space left behind by Alves and Mathieu’s ventures forward, as they weren’t able to recover in time and track back. The third Sevilla goal was a penalty scored by Kevin Gameiro, after Tremoulinas whipped a cross in from Alves’ side, and Mathieu pulled Vitolo down to the ground, who had a clear header at goal.

The equalizing 4-4 goal saw Immobile running in from the right, and as all the defenders stood still, Konoplyanka tapped the ball into an empty net; the Barcelona defence at this time included the additional defensive body of Marc Bartra, who was substituted into the game to strengthen the numbers at the back.

It is unsure if the presence of Jordi Alba would’ve impacted the sturdiness or lack thereof of the Barcelona defence, and manager, Luis Enrique, needs to figure out and fix his defensive problems because next time they concede 4, they may not be able to score 5.

#5 Extra time; exciting time

Pedro scored the winning goal in extra-time

After going from 4-1 to 4-4 in the last 30 minutes of the second half, the teams went into extra-time of this thoroughly exciting UEFA Super Cup Final. Pedro came on for Barcelona, their last substitution of the game, after a much intense discussion about the winger’s future at the club and the reason for his absence from the starting line-up remaining unclear.

The first 15 minutes of extra-time were sluggish, both sets of players clearly not in prime match fitness and not ready to play more than the usual 90 minutes, but Barcelona looked more likely to snatch the winner. 5 minutes from time, a Messi freekick in a dangerous position hits the wall and the rebound is pushed away by Beto. While the others around him have switched off, fresh substitute, Pedro, scores and makes the score 5-4 for the team from Catalonia.

The drama was far from over, as Sevilla continued to attack and look for an equalizer yet again. Coke narrowly headed wide 5 yards out, from a Banega free-kick, and minutes later, with the referee moments away from blowing the whistle, Immobile crosses to Rami at the back post, who is unmarked. The defender is unable to keep the ball down from very close-range as the ball goes flying into the stands.

Both clubs had chances to win it – Barcelona in normal time while Sevilla had it in extra-time. However, it was Barcelona who lifted the UEFA Super Cup to start off a potential sextuple year.