super cup

Blaugrana's 3-1 defeat of clásico rivals brings first silverware of Xavi era

Barça beaten in men’s and women’s Super Cups, while Espanyol halted at home to Osasuna

The manager of Real Sociedad complained of the financial imbalance between clubs following the emphatic Super Cup defeat

Wednesday night sees the new-format Spanish Super Cup kick off in Saudi Arabia on the back of a string of questionable decisions and controversy

Substitute Cristhian Stuani’s penalty with 20 minutes remaining was enough for the Gironistes to edge past the La Liga champions on an historic night in Sabadell

A draw against Athletic Club Bilbao at Camp Nou in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup was insufficient to turn around the 4-0 deficit from the first leg with the Basques claiming their first trophy in 31 years. Barça gave everything and Messi put the Catalans ahead right at the end of the first half giving the blaugranes the lead. However a second half sending off for Piqué meant Barça reduced to ten men for the final half an hour. Equaliser from Aduriz sealed title for Athletic. The last five minutes saw the Basques reduced to ten men also with substitute Kike Sola sent off. It was too late to affect the tie and Barça now turn their attentions to the league and an opening weekend trip to none other than Athletic Club.

Catalans and Basques clash in Spanish Super Cup second leg at Camp Nou on Monday night at 10.00pm CET. FC Barcelona may have fallen in the first leg of the 2015 Spanish Super Cup Final versus Athletic Club Bilbao, but don’t be fooled. They are more than able to get back up and can score goals with the best of them. Correction: They are the best of them, which means that no deficit is insurmountable for the most prolific team in world football. Luis Enrique and his players are confident of a comeback following Friday’s disappointing defeat. The Catalans trained on both Saturday and Sunday in preparation for the big comeback attempt. The not-so-great news is, of course, that Neymar continues to be out with a case of the mumps.

The Basques host the Catalans just 76 days after the two sides met in the Spanish Cup Final at the Camp Nou. After the dramatic 5-4 defeat of Sevilla in Tbilisi to win the European Super Cup, Barça can now make it five titles out of a possible six in 2015 as they face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup. The first leg is at the new San Mamés on Friday 14 August (10.00pm CET) and the return is at the Camp Nou at the same time on Monday 17. Neymar is still sick with the mumps, Alba and Douglas have hamstring injuries and Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal are both ineligible, but Luis Enrique insists that there are no new concerns and that the knocks taken by Pedro and Iniesta against Sevilla were minor affairs that won’t affect their availability on Friday night.

Pedro Rodríguez scored FC Barcelona’s fifth goal of the evening in the 115th minute as Champions League titleholders FC Barcelona hung on late in an exhilarating 5–4 extra-time triumph over a newly revamped Sevilla, the winners of last year’s Europa League, in the 2015 UEFA Super Cup Final on Tuesday night in Tbilisi, Georgia. Lionel Messi scored two free kick goals in the first half to erase an early 1–0 deficit and Rafinha, filling in superbly for the absent Neymar, started and scored to put Barça up 3–1 a minute before halftime. Messi was named man of the match. "We are delighted to start the season with this win, but it was tough," he said following the game. Only two more titles — this month’s Spanish Super Cup and this fall’s FIFA Club World Cup — stand between the Catalans and an unprecedented second sextuple. It is also FC Barcelona’s fifth UEFA Super Cup title, tying them with AC Milan for tops all-time.

Goals from Neymar, Messi and Rakitic give the blaugranes a comfortable win over AS Roma in the team's final game of the 2015/16 pre-season. Luis Enrique's team brought pre-season to its conclusion at Camp Nou with a resounding victory over Italian AS Roma in the Gamper Trophy game. First half goals from Neymar and Leo Messi and another in the second half from Rakitic served to set the blaugranes on track for when silverware will be at stake, beginning with next Tuesday's trip to Tiblisi to take on Sevilla in the European Super Cup.

FC Barcelona won the first ever edition of the Catalan Super Cup at the Estadi Montilivi in Girona this Wednesday evening after the game with RCD Espanyol ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. Luis Enrique’s side dominated from start to finish but were unable to add to a Gerard Piqué header after 15 minutes. Espanyol pulled back through Arbilla shortly after the break, and with no further scoring the game went to penalties. The shootout went Barça’s way, as it also had against the same side in the last two finals of the Copa Catalunya.

FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol meet in the first ever edition of the Catalan Super Cup (9.30pm CET) in the Estadi Montilivi in Girona (north-eastern Catalonia). The tournament has been created as a complement to the Copa Catalunya and features Catalonia’s two top flight clubs, while lower division teams will continue to battle for the former trophy (along with the Barça and Espanyol reserve teams). The meeting between the two biggest clubs in Catalonia comes after neither side managed to collect three points at the weekend in the Spanish League. Barça were beaten 3-1 in the Clasico with Real Madrid, while Espanyol played out a dull 0-0 draw at home to Deportivo. Thirteen first team players have been included in the Barça squad, including Suárez and Adriano.

Tata Martino's men come away with a one-all draw from the Vicente Calderón stadium in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. Just as Martino predicted in the pre-match press conference, the tie between FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid will be decided at the Barça’s Camp Nou. The home team, who took the lead after 12 minutes thanks to a superb strike from Villa, took control of the game early on but loosened their grip as minutes ticked off the clock. Without Messi, who was brought off at the break due to thigh issues, but with Neymar, who was subbed in on 58 minutes, and Cesc, who came on for the Argentinean, Barça regained a little of its incisiveness. Neymar scored, his first official goal in the FC Barcelona strip.