Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao did battle at La Cartuja in Seville this evening to contest the final of the Supercopa de Espana, a competition of heightened importance in this strange season.
Barcelona were looking to win the first title of the Ronald Koeman era while Athletic look rejuvenated under new coach Marcelino and were hungry to lay down a marker.
The latter won out. Athletic were the better side throughout the game and earned a magnificent victory to start the Marcelino era with a bang. They twice came from a goal behind to win 3-2.
Antoine Griezmann, scorer of two of Barcelona’s goals, was understandably rather upset in his post match comments as carried by Marca.
“How do you think we are?” he snapped when asked how the team felt. “We’re screwed, angry, upset. When you lose a final these are all the bad feelings you have.
“Athletic pressed very well. They gave everything until the last minute, and then what happened happened. We have made mistakes in our strategy and we’ll have to work on it during the week. We didn’t defend well, we didn’t communicate. When the ball comes out someone needs to shout.”
Lionel Messi was a doubt, picking up a knock against Granada and missing the semi-final against La Real, but he started and was heavily involved in the opening goal.
The Argentine played the ball out wide for Jordi Alba, who centred well. The ball bounced around in the penalty area before falling to the feet of Griezmann, who finished with aplomb.
Almost immediately afterwards, however, Athletic hit back. Inaki Williams lifted a lovely ball into the box to find Oscar de Marcos, who had broken from the right side to score.
Athletic thought they’d taken the lead just shy of the hour mark, when Raul Garcia headed Iker Muniain‘s free-kick past Marc-Andre ter Stegen. A VAR review, however, ruled it offside.
Griezmann got his and Barcelona’s second as the game entered its final stages. Alba played a smart one-two with Ousmane Dembele before crossing for the French striker, who finished coolly to get Catalan noses in front.
There was to be a late twist in the tale, however – Athletic got back on level terms. Muniain whipped in another quality delivery to find Asier Villalibre, who smashed the ball into the back of the net to take the game to extra-time.
Los Leones scored another in the first-half of extra-time to take the lead. Muniain was involved again, feeding the ball to Inaki Williams, but this was very much an individual goal. Williams cut inside on his right foot before unleashing a stunning strike into the top right corner, giving Ter Stegen no chance.
Insult was added to injury for Barcelona late on when Messi was sent off for the first time in his club career. The Argentine was caught punching Villalibre in the back of the head by a VAR review and was subsequently shown red.
