Barcelona beat Sevilla to take healthy lead into second leg of final

Luis Suarez and Munir El Haddadi found the net as Barcelona claimed a 2-0 first leg win over Sevilla in the Spanish Super Copa.

The hosts enjoyed much of the possession, but failed to create much in the way of goalscoring opportunities. Instead, it was the defending Liga champions who picked off Sevilla in the second half.

Suarez opened the scoring after excellent exchange play between Denis Suarez and Arda Turan, with the former Liverpool striker finishing low past Sergio Rico from the Turkish international’s exceptional chest pass.

And Munir doubled his side’s advantage with his first touch following his introduction from the bench, striking an early finish past the Sevilla goalkeeper after Lionel Messi’s through ball. From then on there was no way back for Jorge Sampaoli’ side.

Do Barcelona really need another striker? The Camp Nou club have been linked with a number of strikers over the summer transfer window as Luis Enrique looks to find a back-up option to Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. But Munir El Haddadi has shown over pre-season, and against Sevilla, that he is more than capable of being that back-up option. Do Barcelona reality need to sign another forward this summer?

Arda Turan (Barcelona): Given all the speculation concerning his future at Barcelona this summer, it’s somewhat surprising that Arda Turan has featured so prominently for the Catalans in pre-season. There have been questions over his fitness and commitment, but he was in top form for Barca here and contributed to their win over Sevilla. Maybe he won’t be on the way out of the club after all.

Sevilla: Rico 6, Mariano 5, Rami 5, Mercado 6, Escudero 5, Kranevitter 6, N’Zonzi 5, Vitolo 6, Kiyotake 5, Vazquez 6, Vietto 5. Subs: Sarabia 5, Ganso 5, Ben Yedder 5.

Barcelona: Bravo 5, Roberto 6, Pique 6, Mascherano 7, Mathieu 5, Sergio 6, Rakitic 6, Iniesta 5, Messi 7, Turan 8, Suarez 8. Subs: Digne 7, Denis 7, Munir 7.

8’ - BIG CHANCE FOR SUAREZ! The Barcelona strikers latches on to a mistake by a Sevilla defender and fires off a low shot at goal. However, Rico gets down well to make the stop.

27’ - INJURY FOR BARCA! This could be a problem for the away team. Mathieu has just dropped to the ground and now appears to be holding his hamstring. He will be coming off.

56’ - GOAL! Sevilla 0-1 Barcelona. An excellent opener from Barcelona! Denis clips a pass into Turan, who chests the ball into the path of Suarez. The striker fires home a low finish past Rico.

68’ - ROBERTO SHOOTS AT GOAL! The right back turned midfielder strides into the final third and unleashes a powerful shot at the Sevilla goal, but Rico makes the save at his near post.

69’ - PENALTY SHOUT! Sevilla believe they should have been awarded a spot kick as Mascherano gets tight to Vitolo inside the box. Rakitic almost scores an own goal soon after!

81’ - MASCHERANO MAKES THE BLOCK! The ball falls to Vazquez inside the box after a scramble, but the Barcelona defender throws himself of it to make the block to deny the shot.

82’ - GOAL! Sevilla 0-2 Barcelona. Was that his first touch of the game? Messi slots a pass through to Munir, who takes the shot early and converts to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead in Sevilla.

88’ - ANOTHER BIG CHALLENGE! Vazquez looks to be clean through on the Barcelona goal, but Mascherano comes striding over and makes the challenge to deny the striker the shot.

In his last eight competitive appearances for Barcelona Munir El Haddadi has scored seven goals.

Luis Suarez has scored 17 goals in his last 10 competitive games for Barcelona, but this was his first even goal in the Spanish Super Copa.