The first Spanish Super Cup to be held over one leg took place in Tangier, Morocco and ended with Barcelona defeating Sevilla 2-1. Ousmane Dembele and Marc-Andre ter Stegen were Barca’s heroes. The Frenchman scored the winning goal, while the German saved a last-minute penalty.
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Barcelona – Sevilla review
Pablo Sarabia was the one who opened the scoring in the 9th minute. His goal was initially ruled out for offside, but VAR overturned the ruling in Sevilla’s favour. It was a fantastic start for new manager Pablo Marchin and his side. Barcelona took over control after going down and had numerous chances to equalise go begging.
Early in the second half, Lionel Messi hit the post from one of his trademark free kicks. The ball bounced off Tomas Vaclik’s back into the post again and rebounded to an empty space. Gerard Pique was the closest to the ball and tapped it in to even the scoring.
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Later on, Fran Vazquez hit the crossbar with a looping header following a corner kick and had another shot go wide before Ousmane Dembele caught Sevilla’s defence napping, blasting a top-shelf rocket to give the Catalans a 2-1 advantage. The goal had the Tangier crowd buzzing.
In the last minute of regular time, Aleix Vidal, who was sold back to Sevilla this summer, broke loose in Barcelona’s penalty area and collided with Ter Stegen. The referee decided there was enough intention in the goalkeeper’s movement to show on the penalty spot, to much dismay of the German goalkeeper. Wissam Ben Yedder took what was a terrible penalty kick, allowing Ter Stegen to make an easy save.
13th Supercopa de Espana for Barcelona
This was Barcelona’s 13th Supercopa de Espana trophy and the first one lifted by new team captain Lionel Messi. Clement Lenglet, Barca’s new No.8 Arthur and Arturo Vidal all made their debuts in Morocco.
Barcelona fans must be satisfied to see their €115 million men Ousmane Dembele making an impact after a rough first season, most of which he spent on the sidelines either injured or on the bench.
La Liga starts next weekend
Valverde’s men start their title defence with a home fixture versus Alaves on Saturday night, whereas Sevilla takes on Rayo Vallecano a day later.
