FC Barcelona missed out on the opportunity to complete another historic sextuple as they lost to an inspired Athletic Bilbao (5-1) over two legs in the Supercopa de Espana.
After the humiliating 4-0 loss in the first leg of the tie, any chances of a Barcelona comeback were pretty slim. The Blaugrana drew the second leg of the tie 1-1 after Lionel Messi opened the scoring. Gerard Pique and Kike Sola were sent off in the second half as both sides finished the game with 10 men. The hero of the first leg, Aritz Aduriz, scored his fourth goal against the Catalan giants to help the Basque outfit end their 31-year-old trophy drought.
Lionel Messi got the Blaugrana’s hopes up when he scored in the 40th minute after some good work by Suarez and Rakitic. However, the sending off of defender Gerard Pique in the second half effectively killed any chances that FC Barcelona had of making a remarkable comeback. Pique was seen confronting and allegedly abusing the assistant referee after the latter failed to call an offside.
Aritz Aduriz cancelled out Messi’s first half effort when he scored from a rebound after some comical defending by the Catalan giants. Kike Sola was sent off only six minutes after coming on for Aduriz following a two-footed studs up challenge on Javier Mascherano.
FC Barcelona will now look to complete their quintuple by winning the Club World Cup later this year. Fans took to Twitter to congratulate Athletic Bilbao and also mock Gerard Pique’s moment of madness. There were also some involved in the perennial Barcelona-Real Madrid comparisons.
Here are some of the best tweets following Bilbao’s historic win:
Barcelona feeling real pressure to score 4 goals in 50 minutes is about as exciting as it gets on a summer Monday afternoon.
a Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 17, 2015
Messi is the only player to score in 5 different Spanish Super Cup finals. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2015.. pic.twitter.com/dPDjkHkaTj
a Leo Messi (@messi10stats) August 17, 2015
Piqu fell for the match officials dubious decisions. Youa ve been in Spain for most of your life, you know how things work, come ona
a Rafael HernA?ndez (@RafaelH117) August 17, 2015
When Barcelona complain about bad refereeing decisions… pic.twitter.com/1zFJsOREtD
a Transfer news (@TrustyTransfers) August 17, 2015
These lips don’t lie. Pique was just sent off in the #SuperCopaDeEspana. pic.twitter.com/Bk7vZ0k7YE
a KICKTV (@KICKTV) August 17, 2015
At the end of the day Gerard Piqu is the winner. He gets to go home to Shakira.
a Jonas Gi ver (@CheGiaevara) August 17, 2015
lol were they waiting for pique to defend https://t.co/x82ag3GNOB
a NaA?ma.. (@woaahnay) August 17, 2015
Kike Sola: 81a a comes on as a substitute 85a a straight red card pic.twitter.com/r6QNZYcsUd
a Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) August 17, 2015
Barcelona’s celebrations this year: Liga Copa UCL European super cup Real Madrid: Messi Copa America loss Atheltc super cup win.
a TheSPORTbible (@TSBible) August 17, 2015
Live images coming in from pique house pic.twitter.com/hQR0iHO5hQ
a Hipster Bar a Fan (@HipsterBarca) August 17, 2015
Pedro watching Bilbao lifting the Super Cup likea pic.twitter.com/EDcoaT9f9j
a Darren (@thedevilstweets) August 17, 2015
How many goals Bilbao scored against Barcelona, Pique? pic.twitter.com/poYxVmcrOm
a Troll Football (@Troll__Football) August 17, 2015
This keepera s flawless strategy prevented Barcelona from scoring on him again (@DanielHarris): http://t.co/oL2ZweLPGa pic.twitter.com/zD7vGxlA7W
a SB Nation (@SBNation) August 17, 2015
True story pic.twitter.com/5tFkUTS0Py
a BarcaHD (@Barcelona_HD) August 17, 2015
Pique could receive a 4 match-ban. He’ll miss: Bilbao (A) Malaga (H) Atletico (A) Levante (H) pic.twitter.com/UkTBdcA2PB
a Ebia #DRE4M (@BarcaSnacks) August 18, 2015
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Since Lionel Messi’s debut for Barcelona: Lionel Messi: 25 trophies (2 trebles) Real Madrid: 10 trophies pic.twitter.com/ChxvB3mG9O
a Football Funnys (@FootballFunnys) August 18, 2015
