Barcelona vs Bilbao - Messi sent off, Barca fail to win Spanish Super Cup

 Barcelona must recognise Athletic Bilbao's superiority in the Spanish Super Cup final. 

The Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao duel, held at La Cartuja Stadium on Monday (18/1/2021), ended 2-2 in normal time. 

The match continued into extra time. In the end, Barcelona failed to win their 14th Spanish Super Cup trophy after a 2-3 draw with Athletic Bilbao. 

Bilbao's three goals were scored by Oscar de Marcos (42'), Asier Villalibre (90'), and Inaki Williams (93').

Meanwhile, two Barcelona goals were conceded by Antoine Griezmann in the 40th and 77th minutes.' 

Lionel Messi was shown a red card in the 120th minute after being seen swinging his arm in the face of an Athletic Bilbao player. 

The course of the match

Athletic Bilbao started the game with high intensity. Inaki Williams tried to break through the Barcelona defence by passing Ronald Araujo's control, but his effort was immediately stopped by Sergino Dest.

The match between the two teams was tight. However, until the 13th minute, there was no shot on goal.

Barcelona had a chance through a free-kick by Lionel Messi in the 25th minute. However, Messi's delivery was out of reach of Araujo in front of goal.

Athletic Bilbao counterattacked. Ander Capa, who took advantage of a cross from Iker Muniain, fired a shot into the net which barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen blocked.

Barcelona almost scored its first goal through Lionel Messi in the 37th minute. Messi's left-footed shot from outside the box bounced off the crossbar and into the top corner of the net.

Three minutes later, Barcelona broke the deadlock. It started with Messi providing a breakthrough pass to Jordi Alba.

The 31-year-old defender again passed the ball to the captain, who was blocked by the opposing player.

However, the ball then landed perfectly at the feet of Antoine Griezmann who went straight into the bottom corner of the Athletic Bilbao goal. 1-0 to Barcelona.

Barcelona's lead did not last long. In the 42nd minute, Athletic Bilbao equalised thanks to Oscar de Marcos' goal.

Inaki Williams unleashed a cross past Jordi Alba which was completed perfectly by De Marcos. He immediately fired a shot into the net that Ter Stegen failed to anticipate.

The score was 1-1 until the first half ended.

Athletic Bilbao did not lower the intensity of the attack in the second half.

In the 51st minute Dani Garcia unleashed a speculative shot that was still wide on the left side of marc-andre ter Stegen's goal.

Messi again took over the free kick. However, he was unable to score Barcelona's second goal as his shot went wide after the ball hit the Bilbao player's body.

Barcelona were in a tricky situation after Raul Garcia scored his second goal for Athletic Bilbao in the 57th minute.

Raul Garcia grabbed Iker Muniain's free-kick with his shot that hit ter Stegen's net.

However, Barcelona could breathe a little sigh of relief after the referee awarded Raul Garcia's goal after seeing a replay of the VAR (Video Assistant Referee).

Raul Garcia was deemed to have been caught offside when he welcomed Muniain's free-kick.

Araujo almost made a mistake after his outcast ball landed at Williams' feet. Luckily, Williams' shot went wide on the left of the Barcelona goal.

Barcelona doubled their lead. Antoine Griezmann put his name back on the scoreboard in the 77th minute.

The unguarded Griezmann in the middle of the box welcomed Jordi Alba's pass and immediately shook Unai Simon's goal.

Athletic Bilbao could again equalise in the 90th minute through Asier Villalibre's free-kick from Iker Muniain.

An equally strong 2-2 lead kept the game going in extra time.

Athletic Bilbao took a 3-2 lead through Inaki Williams' shot in the 93rd minute. 

In the extra time that went 2 x 15 minutes, Barcelona had to concede the superiority of Athletic Bilbao. 

Barcelona 2-3 Athletic Bilbao (Antoin Griezmann 40', 77'; Oscar de Marcos 42', Asier Villalibre 90', and Inaki Williams 93')

Lineup:

Barcelona (4-3-3): 1-Ter Stefen (GK); 2-Sergino Dest (28-Oscar Mingueza 46'), 4-Araujo, 15-Clement Lenglet (17-Trincao 105'), 14-Jordi Alba, 16-Pedri (8-Pjanic 88'), 5-Busquets (12-Riqui Puig 97'), 21-Frenkie de Jong, 10-Messi, 7-Griezmann, 11-Dembele (9-Braithwaite 83').

Reserve players: 8-Pjanic, 9-Braithwaite, 12-Riqui Puig, 13-Neto, 17-Trincao, 23-Samuel Umtiti, 24-Junior Firpo, 26-Inaki Pena Sotorres, 28-Oscar Mingueza.

Coach: Ronald Koeman

Athletic Bilbao (4-4-2): 1-Unai Simon (GK); 24-Balenziaga (6-Mikel Vesga 83'), 4-Inigo Martinez (3-Unai Nunez 96'), 5-Yeray Alvarez, 21-Ander Capa (12-Alejandro Berenguer Remiro 81'), 10-Iker Muniain, 14-Dani Garcia, 27-Unai Vencedor (6-Mikel Vesga 81'), 18-Oscar de Marcos, 22-Raul Garcia (20-Asier Villalibre 83'), 8-Inaki Williams (2-Jon Morcillo 105').

Reserves: 2-Jon Morcillo, 3-Unai Nunez, 6-Mikel Vesga, 7-Ibai Gomez, 12-Alejandro Berenguer Remiro, 13-Jokin Ezkieta, 15-Inigo Lekue, 16-Oihan Sancet, 20-Asier Villailibre.

Coach: Marcelino Garcia.