Gonzalo
Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo struck first-half goals as Real Madrid beat
10-man Barcelona 2-1 to lift the Spanish Super Cup before a full house at the
Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
With
last Thursday's first leg at Camp Nou having ended in a 3-2 Barca victory,
Madrid took the title on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw.
All the
action came in an exciting first half, where Lionel Messi replied with a
brilliant free-kick for Barcelona, who had previously lost Adriano to a
straight red card for a last-man foul on Ronaldo.
It was a
timely success for Madrid, who have already fallen five points behind arch
rivals Barca in La Liga after a draw and a loss in their first two league
games.
"The
team went out well from the start and created chances, got the goals and then
they (Barcelona) went down to 10 men," said Madrid assistant coach Aitor
Karanka.
"After
all that, the result was a lot closer than we expected, but we're happy to lift
the trophy. We got a reaction from our players and that's the important
thing."
Barca
coach Tito Vilanova said he was pleased with his players' response after a
difficult start.
"I
congratulate Madrid on their win, but I felt proud of our performance with only
10 men, especially in the second half, where we had five good chances to level
the game," he said.
With the
tie finely balanced, both sides started with near full-strength teams.
Madrid
coach Jose Mourinho kept faith with Higuain, who had scored in consecutive
league games, leaving Karim Benzema to start on the bench with Luka Modric, who
made his first appearance for Madrid after signing on Monday.
Barca,
however, had to cope with a problem just before kick-off when Jordi Alba
replaced Dani Alves, who seemed to pick up an injury in the warm-up.
Madrid
were quick out of the blocks and goalkeeper Victor Valdes made a superb block
from Higuain on seven minutes to stop a certain opener.
However,
three minutes later he could do nothing in a similar situation after Javier
Mascherano had misjudged the flight of a long ball out of defence from Pepe.
Again Higuain found himself in space and this time he slotted home.
Marcelo
went close before Ronaldo doubled Madrid's lead on 18 minutes.
Again it
was a long ball out of defence that troubled Barca.
This
time Gerard Pique failed to clear a Sami Khedira ball and the Portuguese star
pounced on the loose ball to advance on goal and finally, after a quick
check-back, beat Valdes with a low shot to claim Madrid's second of the
evening.
It got
worse for Barca when Adriano received his marching orders on 27 minutes for a
trip on Ronaldo, who was running on to another long ball out of defence.
Barca
made their first real attack of the evening in the 36th minute, but nobody was
able to connect with Andres Iniesta's dangerous cross.
Messi
then struck with a perfectly curled free-kick to reduce Madrid's lead.
The
second half could not continue at the same pace and, as Barca gained more
possession and settled into a more comfortable passing game, chances became
rare.
Pedro
Rodriguez came close to levelling for Barca on 62 minutes, latching onto a long
ball only for Iker Casillas to stop brilliantly with his feet.
At the
other end, Valdes saved from Khedira but Barca were controlling the game,
despite the numerical disadvantage, and the home crowd was getting restless.
Those
nerves were not helped on 79 minutes when Higuain's shot agonisingly drifted to
the foot of the post after beating a retreating Valdes.
Modric
was then introduced to a standing ovation for his first taste of life as a
Madrid player, Alex Song having earlier entered the fray to do the same for
Barca.
What
they both experienced was a frantic finish.
Messi
came close to taking the title back to Catalunya in injury time with a shot
that flashed wide from the edge of the box, but Madrid held on to trigger
joyous celebrations in the Spanish capital.
Source: MSN.Com
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