FCBARCELONA.CAT

28.08.2009 11:17

Barça v Shakhtar: Did you know?

Roger Bogunyà

FC Barcelona and Here we give you some of the facts and figures surrounding the match.

►  Barça and Shakhtar have met six times before with three wins for Barça, two for Shakhtar and one draw. They’ve never met in a European Super Cup final.

►  Barça lost their first three Super Cup finals against Nottingham Forest in 1979, Aston Villa in 1982 and AC Milan in 1989. All three finals were played over two legs.

► Barça have won the competition twice. Johan Cruyff’s team won it for the first time in 1992 beating Werder Bremen 2-3 on aggregate.

► The second came five years later against another Bundesliga club, Borussia Dortmund. The aggregate score this time was 3-1.

► The last time Barça took part in the competition was in 2006. It was the first final held in Monaco and Barça, managed by Frank Rijkaard, lost 3-0 to Sevilla.

►  Barça share the record for the most appearances in the competition, seven, with AC Milan. However, the Italians have won it the most times – five. A win on Friday would put Barça in second place in terms of Cups won, equal with Ajax and Liverpool.

► Josep Guardiola played in the return leg of the 1992 final against Werder Bremen.

► Shakhtar manager, Mircea Lucescu, was the manager of the Galatasaray side that won the competition in 2000, beating Real Madrid 2-1. Another win on Friday would put him in a select group of managers who have won it twice - Alex Ferguson, Raymond Goethals, Arrigo Sacchi, Louis Van Gaal and Carlo Ancelotti.

► Barça have only played twice in the Stade Louis II. Apart from the 2006 final against Sevilla, Barça played there in the group stage of the Champions League in the 1993/94 season, winning 0-1 thanks to a goal from Hristo Stoitchkov. Current coach Pep Guardiola featured in Barça’s starting line-up.

► Only seven players from the current Barça squad took part in the 2006 final: Puyol, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Márquez and Iniesta. The last two will miss Friday’s match due to injury.

► Nobody in the Shakhtar squad has ever played in the European Super Cup.

► Touré Yaya will be up against some of his former team-mates from his time with Metalurg Donetsk, who have since made the move to Shakhtar: Yuiry Virt, Olexandr Kucher and Olexiy Polyanskiy.

►  If Carles Puyol plays this Friday it will be his 100th game in UEFA competitions:

►  Mircea Lucescu and Darijo Srna were voted best manager and best player in the Ukrainian Premier League.

►  This Saturday, Shakhtar will inaugurate their new stadium, the Donbass Arena. Among the attractions will be a performance by Beyoncé Knowles.