FC Barcelona defeats Sevilla FC 5-4 to win UEFA Super Cup 2015

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 115^th 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 2^nd minute and thus Sevilla got a free kick. Banega converted the free kick into goal in the 3^rd 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 14^th minute and Barca were awarded another free kick for Banega's foul on Rakitić. Leo Messi converted this free kick into a goal, giving the lead to Barcelona after 16 minutes of game play. This was Messi's 36^th 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 52^nd making it a one-sided match. Five minutes later, Reyes scored a close ranged shot making the score 4–2. In the 63^rd minute, Andrés Iniesta was substituted off for Sergi Roberto. Iniesta made his 550^th appearance for Barcelona. After this substitution, the goal difference kept on dropping. In the 71^st 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 87^th 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 93^rd 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 99^th 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 25^th 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."

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

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 Rakitić 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

Sources

• Michael Toll. "FC Barcelona v Sevilla FC: Fourth title of 2015 (5–4)" — FC Barcelona, August 12, 2015
• Roger Bogunyà. "Lionel Messi man of the match in 2015 UEFA Super Cup" — FC Barcelona, August 12, 2015
• "UEFA Super Cup - Matches – UEFA.com" — UEFA, August 11, 2015
• "UEFA Super Cup – UEFA.com" — UEFA, August 11, 2015
• "The official website for European football – UEFA.com" — UEFA, August 11, 2015
• "Pedro is Barcelona's UEFA Super Cup hero again" — UEFA, August 11, 2015
• "Pedro: Barcelona forward 'wants to leave the club'" — BBC Sport, August 11, 2015
• Sam Robinson. "Pedro clinches Uefa Super Cup for Barcelona in thriller against Sevilla" — The Guardian, August 11, 2015
• Hamish Mackay. "Pedro's body language after Barcelona's Super Cup win shows he's ready to join Manchester United" — Daily Mirror, August 11, 2015