All Bar�a�s football

Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Friday, 28 Aug
Competition: ???label.competicio9???
Stadium: Louis II, Barcelona

Resultat:

FC Barcelona: 1
Shakhtar D.: 0

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

More info

Goal

1-0, Pedro (min 115)

Pedro, Prince of Monaco (1-0)

Jordi Clos

A goal in the nick of time from the Canary Islander in the second half of extra time has handed Bar�a their third European Super Cup. Now we can talk of a brand new Bar�a of the Five Cups.

57 years later, Bar�a can once again boast a ‘Team of the Five Cups’. Like that legendary side led by the great Ladislau Kubala in 1952, Guardiola’s team has won all five tournaments possible in 2009. The Cup, the League, the Champions League and the Super Cups of both Spain and Europe.

In Monaco, Bar�a have made amends for the disappointment of 2006. But they suffered more than they have done in other finals this year – the Ukrainians held out against Bar�a’s relentless attack until the very end. Penalties were looming, but then Pedro latched onto a Messi pass to score the only goal of the night, and win the European Super Cup for the third time.

Initial impressions

Bar�a struggled from the start to find a way past Shakhtar’s rock solid defence. The poor condition of the grass didn’t help matters, preventing Bar�a from playing their trademark passing game to perfection, but the midfield also made more mistakes than we are used to seeing of them and were receiving the ball in all the wrong areas. This made it hard for midfield and attack to connect – it was uncharacteristic of Barcelona to only shoot once in the whole of the first half hour (Henry, min 8).

Gaining ground

But despite the lack of initial depth, and some sloppy combination play, Bar�a were undoubtedly the dominant side. And they gradually started making their possession count. In the 32nd minute, Messi had the best chance of the game with a quickly taken free kick, he himself ending the move with a shot from a narrow angle that almost had goalkeeper Pyatov beaten. Bar�a gained ground in the final minutes of the first half, but all they got out of it was a series of corners that came to nothing.

Messi takes over

Things hardly improved after the break. Bar�a enjoyed 65% of the possession and bravely opted to move Messi into a more central position in the attack. Playing the Argentinian in the middle also drew Shakhtar’s wider players in, which opened up spaces down the wings. It was Messi, who, in the 73rd minute struck powerfully from the edge of the area, an effort that was turned away only as far as Henry, whose strike was sent over for a corner by the Ukrainian stopper.

Extra time

Ibrahimovic also had a fine chance with a decent shot and a penalty claim in two counter attacking moves. The Swede then came off to make way for Pedro, who sought to open the play more towards the right. But though Bar�a were in supreme control, Shakhtar always looked dangerous on the counter with their fast, skilful forwards. Henry almost broke the deadlock off a Puyol corner inside the six-yard box in the 86th minute, but time was running out, and the game went into extra time.

Hero Pedro

There were some tired legs out there, and Shakhtar almost won it against the run of play with a penetrating run from Julius that Vald�s dealt with in the 98th minute. Bar�a’s secret weapon, however, was Bojan. He had the first major Barcelona chance of extra time following an amazing slaloming run in the 101st minute. A powerful drive from Alves then skimmed wide of the post. The goals just wouldn’t come, and penalty kicks were becoming an inevitability. But just when it looked like time had run out for both teams, Pedro and Messi produced a one-two and the Canary Islander finished off the move with a delightful conversion that, at long last, had Pyatov beaten.

Preview

Almost 6.000 Bar�a fans

Nearly 6,000 Bar�a fans will make the trip to Monaco to watch the game in the Stade Louis II.

A clash of champions

Jordi Clos

The winners of last season�s Champions league and UEFA Cup, FC Barcelona and Shakhtar Donetsk, meet on Friday night in Monaco to claim the European Super Cup. Kick-off is at 8.45 pm local time.

Pep Guardiola’s Bar�a team have an historic opportunity to add their already impressive list of achievements. In the space of just a few months they have accumulated the Spanish Cup, the Spanish League, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup. And now they can make it five out of five by beating the UEFA Cup champions Shakhtar Donetsk to lift the European Super Cup in the Stade Louis II.

It will be Bar�a’s seventh European Super Cup . The Club hasn’t had much luck in the competition up to now and has won it only twice, both times when the trophy was disputed over two legs. Since the format was changed to a single match final, Bar�a’s only participation was the sad 3-0 defeat against Sevilla in 2006.

All travel to Monaco

With Sevilla in mind, the objective is to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. The coaching staff have kept to the usual routine for away matches and have taken all 24 available senior squad players to Monaco, including M�rquez and Iniesta, who are still recovering from injury and will definitely not be fit to play. The players went through their paces on Thursday evening in the final training session before the mach, held on the pitch of the stadium itself and were able to confirm that the playing surface leaves much to be desired.

Familiar faces

Shakhtar Donetsk is well known to the Bar�a camp. The two sides met in the group stage of last season’s Champions League when they shared the honours with Bar�a winning 2-1 in the Ukraine while Shakhtar took the points in Catalonia with a 3-2 victory in the Camp Nou. Both games were a delight to watch, which comes as no surprise from two teams that like to play good football.

Dmytro Chygrynskyy

One of the stars of the Ukrainian team coached by Mircea Lucescu is Dmytro Chygrynskyi , the elegant central defender who announced on Thursday that he would be moving to FC Barcelona after Friday’s match. No doubt all eyes will be on him. Most of Shakhtar’s other leading lights are foreigners, mainly Brazilians. They’ll be missing Brandao, but the attacking threesome of Ilsinho, Luiz Adriano and Fernandinho has more than enough quality to keep their side in the European elite.

Top of page

Back to top

Catal�

Language menu

Content