Saturday, August 15, 2015

On Wednesday, Catalonia-based football club FC Barcelona defeated Seville-based football club Sevilla 5–4 to win the 2015 UEFA Super Cup. The match was held in Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in the city of Tbilisi, Georgia. Pedro, who may leave for Manchester United, scored the winning goal of the match in the 115th minute. This was the fifth UEFA Super cup won by Barcelona.

Barcelona had stronger possession of the ball in front of Sevilla. The match saw nine yellow cards, four for Barcelona players and five for Sevilla players. A total of 41 fouls were committed in the match. A total of nine goals were scored in the match, with the first goal scored in the opening minutes of the game.

Barcelona defender Mascherano committed a foul in the 2nd minute and thus Sevilla got a free kick. Banega converted the free kick into goal in the 3rd minute of the game. Minutes later, Sevilla’s Krychowiak committed a foul and this early lead was soon equalised as Barcelona forward Lionel Messi scored a similar style free kick.

Krychowiak received a yellow card in the 14th minute and Barca were awarded another free kick for Banega’s foul on Rakiti?. Leo Messi converted this free kick into a goal, giving the lead to Barcelona after 16 minutes of game play. This was Messi’s 36th goal in 37 games in 2015.

Minutes before half time, Luis Suárez assisted Rafinha and the Brazilian tripled the lead for the Catalans. First half ended with scoreline 3–1 with only one booking.

Within ten minutes of the second half, Suárez scored the fourth goal in the 52nd making it a one-sided match. Five minutes later, Reyes scored a close ranged shot making the score 4–2. In the 63rd minute, Andrés Iniesta was substituted off for Sergi Roberto. Iniesta made his 550th appearance for Barcelona. After this substitution, the goal difference kept on dropping. In the 71st minute, Mathieu was booked for a foul on Vitolo. Referee awarded a penalty kick for Sevilla. Gameiro perfectly converted it into a goal making it 4–3.

Within the next ten minutes, Sevilla equalised with Barcelona. Konoplyanka scored an easy tap-in to bring Sevilla from 4–1 to 4–4. Within half an hour, the one-sided match changed into a tensed match.

Coke in the 87th minute and Banega in the 90+2 minute were booked for committing foul on Suárez. The game ended in 4–4. And thus it was extended to additional time.

Additional time saw five more yellow cards. Pedro was substituted in for Mascherano in the 93rd minute and in the next minute, he received a yellow card for foul on Vitolo. Barcelona won a free kick in the dying minutes of the game. Messi’s kick became an indirect assist to Pedro who netted it in the top corner. It was the winning goal of the game.

This was Pedro’s 99th goal in the Catalonia jersey. By this victory, Barcelona joined A.C. Milan as the most successful club. Both the teams have earned the title five times. This trophy was Messi’s and Iniesta’s 25th trophy with Barcelona. Messi was awarded Man of the match. After the match, he said, “We are delighted to start the season with this win, but it was tough […] The most important thing was to win the Super Cup to start well. Now we think of the Spanish Super Cup against Athletic Club”.

On Tuesday, Pedro was asked if he was leaving Barcelona. He replied “The answer is no. But it is a difficult, complicated situation. When you know you may leave it is difficult.” Pedro said it wan’t about money but the playing time. Pedro said “The truth is that I had a good chance to play. The coach has decided not to count on me. I don’t know, I don’t know if I will continue here […] Manchester? Yes, there are nice challenges on all sides. Today I’m here, and I’m happy […] And if I go, I will go with my head held high having always given everything.”


August 11, 2015GET (UTC+4)
Barcelona 5–4 (a.e.t.) Sevilla Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, GeorgiaReferee: Willie Collum (Scotland)
Messi 7′, 16’Rafinha 44’Suárez 52’Pedro 115′ Banega 3’Reyes 57’Gameiro 72′ (pen.)Konoplyanka 81′
  • Match Lineup
  • Match Statistics
FC Barcelona

 

Sevilla FC

 

GK 1 Marc-André ter Stegen
6 Dani Alves 120′
3 Gerard Piqué
14 Javier Mascherano 93′
24 Jérémy Mathieu 71′
4 Ivan Rakiti?
5 Sergio Busquets 117′
8 Andrés Iniesta (c) 63′
10 Lionel Messi
9 Luis Suárez
12 Rafinha 78′
Substitutes:
GK 13 Claudio Bravo
15 Marc Bartra 78′
21 Adriano
20 Sergi Roberto 63′
7 Pedro 94′ 93′
29 Sandro Ramírez
31 Munir El Haddadi
Manager:
Luis Enrique
GK 13 Beto
23 Coke 87′
3 Adil Rami
4 Grzegorz Krychowiak 14′
2 Benoît Trémoulinas
7 Michael Krohn-Dehli 120′
19 Éver Banega 90+2′
10 José Antonio Reyes (c) 68′
8 Vicente Iborra 80′
20 Vitolo
9 Kévin Gameiro 80′
Substitutes:
GK 1 Sergio Rico
25 Mariano 80′
12 Gaël Kakuta
16 Luismi
17 Denis Suárez
22 Yevhen Konoplyanka 68′
11 Ciro Immobile 92′ 80′
Manager:
Unai Emery

Possession

62%
38%

  Goals

5     4

  Total Attempts

24     17

  On target

10     6

  Off target

7     6

  Blocked

7     5

  Against Woodwork

1   0

  Passes attempted

795     407

  Accuracy %

90%     83%

  Offsides

3     4

  Corners

8     4

  Fouls

20     21

  Yellow cards

4     5