Football: Suarez Gives Barcelona Edge In Supercup

MADRID, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Augst,2016) - Luis Suarez and Munir El Haddadi shot down Sevilla to give Barcelona a comfortable victory in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday. The Uruguayan opened the scoring early in the second half, making amends for two misses earlier in the game, before Munir sealed the win when he ran on to a Lionel Messi through-ball. Having been beaten 4-0 by Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of last year's final, Barcelona were determined to improve on that showing and have set themselves up nicely for the second leg at Camp Nou on August 17. Luis Enrique sprang a surprise with his selection, picking Jeremy Mathieu at left-back and Arda Turan at left-wing in place of the absent Neymar, with all four summer signings left out.

Sergi Roberto was also chosen out of position at right-back, ahead of Aleix Vidal. However, by the 35th minute both Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez had to be brought on for their official debuts, with Jeremy Mathieu and Andres Iniesta injuring their hamstring and knee respectively. Iniesta was making his 594th appearance for Barcelona, taking over from Carles Puyol as the player with the second most appearances for the club, behind Xavi Hernandez, but it was ended prematurely after a fierce challenge by Gabriel Mercado. The first period saw few chances created, although the best of them fell to Luis Suarez in the sixth minute.

Sergio Busquets played him in and after spinning masterfully away from the defence his low strike was saved well by goalkeeper Sergio Rico.