© EuroFootball.com
On a late Thursday evening, the football season started in Spain with the first Spanish Super Cup match between two Barcelona city clubs - "Espanyol" and "Barcelona". The Spanish champions won with a minimal margin and gained an advantage before the return leg, which will take place at the "Nou Camp" stadium on Sunday.
0 - 1
43' [0 - 1] Ludovic Giuly
From the start of the match, no new players appeared in Barcelona's lineup, but Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, and Eidur Gudjohnsen were registered. Coach Frank Rijkaard decided not to include in the squad: Juliano Belletti, Mark van Bommel, Santiago Ezquerro, Edmilson who left for the Brazilian national team, and Javier Saviola with an uncertain future at the club.
"Espanyol": Iraizoz, Zabaleta, De la Cruz, Jarque, D.Garcia, Rufete (63' Coro), Costa, De la Pena (68' Riera), Fredson, L.Garcia, Tamudo (54' Pandiani).
"Barcelona": Valdes, Oleguer, Puyol (82' Zambrotta), Marquez, Sylvinho, Xavi (71' Iniesta), Motta, Deco, Giuly (60' Messi), Eto'o, Ronaldinho.
About eight minutes into the game, "Barcelona" goalkeeper Victor Valdes had to demonstrate his skills - after receiving a pass in the penalty area, an "Espanyol" player struck the ball towards the goal, but Valdes reacted to the shot and pushed the ball aside. Shortly after, "Espanyol" took a few shots at goal, but the Barcelona goalkeeper continued to play confidently.
At the end of the first half, "Espanyol" took another dangerous shot at goal, but the ball narrowly missed over the crossbar. Shortly after, Xavi had a great opportunity but failed to score from a few meters in front of the goalkeeper.
However, the Spanish champions managed to score just before the end of the first half - after attracting three opponent players, Eto'o passed the ball to Ronaldinho in the penalty area, who then accurately delivered the ball to Giuly on the edge of the penalty area, and the free Frenchman easily put his club ahead.
The second half started actively with "Espanyol" - in the 47th minute, Eduardo Costa tested Valdes with a unexpected long shot, and a few minutes later, Ivan De la Pena made a dangerous pass into the penalty area, but Puyol managed to clear the ball.
About an hour into the game, Leo Messi appeared on the field instead of Giuly and quickly livened up the game - in the 63rd minute, Messi played with Eto'o in the penalty area, but the latter's pass was slightly inaccurate. A few minutes later, Deco took a dangerous shot from the edge of the penalty area, but his attempt to chip the ball over the goalkeeper was unsuccessful.
At the end of the second half, "Barcelona" completely took the initiative and had chances to score. In the 77th minute, Ronaldinho quickly played the ball into the penalty area for Messi to shoot, but the goalkeeper resisted the shot. A couple of minutes later, Ronaldinho himself had a chance to score but the "Espanyol" goalkeeper saved again.
The match ended with a minimal 1-0 victory for "Barcelona," taking a significant step towards the title in this season.
