Barça take first Super Cup of the week

Liga and European champions FC Barcelona warmed up for their appearance in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday with Lionel Messi scoring twice in a 3-0 Spanish Super Cup second leg win against Athletic Club Bilbao.

Ibrahimović denied
While they struggled to make possession and chances count in the first half at Camp Nou, it took just four minutes after the interval for Messi to make the breakthrough, skipping down the right and beating Gorka Iraizoz from an acute angle. Debutant Zlatan Ibrahimović was denied a goal with the referee awarding a penalty – converted by Messi – after the summer signing had bundled the ball into the net, and the Swede was taken off not long afterwards, only for his replacement Bojan Krkić to swiftly make it 3-0, pouncing on a miscued back-pass.

'Pre-season objective'
With Barça having also won the first leg 2-1, they are now level with arch-rivals Real Madrid CF, with both sides having won eight Spanish Super Cups since the competition's inception in 1982. Guardiola  said: "I can instill in them a desire to win but it's the players who take the credit for going out and achieving victory. Our pre-season objective was to win this trophy and the UEFA Super Cup in order to prepare for the start of Liga in the best way possible." The Catalan side take on FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup at Monaco's Stade Louis II on Friday night.