[football] Barcelona Wins UEFA Super Cup

Barcelona won the UEFA super cup defeating Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in the match played in Monaco. The match between the the champions of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (currently known as Europa League) was the treat to the viewers as it was expected. The match was goalless till the 115th minute when Pedro scored for the European and Spanish champions.
Barcelona took to the field with almost the best combination of their team with only Iniesta and Marquez missing from the squad due to their injuries. However, even though they dominated the ball possession, they could not find the goal in the full time of the match. In the first half Barcelona had almost 75% of ball possession but the attackers seemed to be clueless in front of the Shakhtar defenders. In the second half they showed more penetration but could not find the goal. Just at the end of the 90 minutes Messi made a great solo effort but was defended at the last moment by Kucher which prompted some frustrated reaction from Messi and both of them got yellow cards. After the regulation time was over Barcelona came back rejuvenated but the Ukrainians defended strongly. Guardiola put in some fresh legs with Bojan, Busquets and Pedro coming in for Henry, Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. At the 25th minute of the extra time Pedro came in from the left and passed the ball to Messi, who gave a great pass clearing 3 defenders standing close. Pedro took the pass and scored the goal with a great finish. All the goals in this season so far of the Barcelona team were scored by homegrown players with Pedro showing great skills throughout the pre season also.
It is the second trophy for Barcelona after they won the Spanish Super Cup this Sunday. Now Barcelona start their Spanish League campaign on Monday against Sporting Gijon.

Dmytro Chygrynski played his last match for Shakhtar Donetsk with his transfer to Barcelona most probably being confirmed tomorrow.