2015 UEFA Super Cup

The 2015 UEFA Super Cup was a football match between Spanish teams Barcelona and Sevilla on 11 August 2015 at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was the 40th UEFA Super Cup, an annual tournament contested by the winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Barcelona were appearing in the Super Cup for the ninth time, they had previously won and lost the competition four times each. Sevilla were appearing in the competition for the fourth time, they had won once and lost twice. The two sides had met before in the competition in 2006, when Sevilla won 3–0.[5]

2015 UEFA Super Cup
After extra time
Date11 August 2015 (2015-08-11)
VenueBoris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi
Man of the MatchLionel Messi (Barcelona)[1]
RefereeWillie Collum (Scotland)[2]
Attendance51,940[3]
WeatherClear night
27 °C (81 °F)
49% humidity[4]
2014
2016

The teams had qualified for the competition by winning the two seasonal European competitions. Barcelona won the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, defeating Italian Juventus 3–1 in the final. Sevilla qualified as winners of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. They beat Ukrainian team Dnipro 3–2 in the final.[6]

Barcelona won the game 5–4 after extra time to claim their fifth Super Cup title, tying Milan's record.[7] Their ninth Super Cup appearance was also a record, two ahead of Milan. Dani Alves's fourth Super Cup win and fifth appearance matched Paolo Maldini's records, while Luis Enrique became the fourth man to lift the UEFA Super Cup as coach and player after Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone. The nine goals scored was also the most in any Super Cup fixture, and the attendance of 51,940 was a record for a one-off, neutral venue UEFA Super Cup.

Venue

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi, Georgia, hosted the match.

The Mikheil Meskhi Stadium was originally announced as the venue of the Super Cup at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 5 March 2014,[8][9] but the venue was changed to the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena. This was the first UEFA Super Cup hosted in Georgia.[10] The Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena was built in 1976 and renovated in 2011. It is the home stadium of the Georgia national football team and FC Dinamo Tbilisi.[11]

Teams

TeamQualificationPrevious participation (bold indicates winners)
BarcelonaWinners of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League1979, 1982, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2011
SevillaWinners of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League2006, 2007, 2014

Match

Summary

Barcelona lift UEFA Super Cup after defeating Sevilla in the final.

Sevilla took the lead in the third minute through a curling free kick from Éver Banega, awarded for a foul on José Antonio Reyes by Javier Mascherano.[12] Barcelona equalised in a similar manner four minutes later, when Lionel Messi scored from a free kick following Grzegorz Krychowiak's foul on Luis Suárez, and then took the lead through another Messi free kick in the 16th minute, after Banega fouled former Sevilla midfielder Ivan Rakitić.[12] Suárez had a goal ruled out for offside shortly after, but Rafinha made the score 3–1 to Barcelona at half time, sliding in from close range after Suárez's effort was saved by Beto.[12]

Suárez scored early in the second half, assisted by a pass from Sergio Busquets after the midfielder intercepted a pass in the Sevilla half, but Reyes pulled a goal back for Sevilla five minutes later, following a cross from Vitolo.[12] In the 72nd minute, Vitolo was brought down in the Barcelona penalty area by Jérémy Mathieu, and Kevin Gameiro powered home the resulting penalty kick to make the score 4–3.[12] With 10 minutes to play, two Sevilla substitutes combined for the equalising goal, as Ciro Immobile squared the ball across the goal area for Yevhen Konoplyanka to score.[12] Messi almost had a hat-trick of free kicks in the 89th minute, but his attempt hit the crossbar.[12]

Barcelona introduced Pedro in place of Mascherano at the start of the additional half-hour.[12] With five minutes to play in the second half of extra time, he pounced on the rebound from yet another Messi free kick to put Barcelona ahead, just as he had against Shakhtar Donetsk in 2009.[12] Adil Rami had an attempt on goal from the edge of the goal area in injury time at the end of the extra period, but he missed and Barcelona won the Super Cup for a record fifth time.[12] With nine goals shared between the two teams, this was the highest scoring Super Cup.[13]

Details

Barcelona 5–4 (a.e.t.) Sevilla
Report
Barcelona[4]
Sevilla[4]
GK1 Marc-André ter Stegen
RB6 Dani Alves  120'
CB3 Gerard Piqué
CB14 Javier Mascherano  93'
LB24 Jérémy Mathieu  71'
DM5 Sergio Busquets  117'
CM4 Ivan Rakitić
CM8 Andrés Iniesta (c)  63'
RF10 Lionel Messi
CF9 Luis Suárez
LF12 Rafinha  78'
Substitutes:
GK13 Claudio Bravo
DF15 Marc Bartra  78'
DF21 Adriano
MF20 Sergi Roberto  63'
FW7 Pedro  94'  93'
FW29 Sandro
FW31 Munir
Manager:
Luis Enrique
GK13 Beto
RB23 Coke  87'
CB3 Adil Rami
CB4 Grzegorz Krychowiak  14'
LB2 Benoît Trémoulinas
CM7 Michael Krohn-Dehli  120'
CM19 Éver Banega  90+2'
RW10 José Antonio Reyes (c)  68'
AM8 Vicente Iborra  80'
LW20 Vitolo
CF9 Kevin Gameiro  80'
Substitutes:
GK1 Sergio Rico
DF25 Mariano  80'
MF12 Gaël Kakuta
MF16 Luismi
MF17 Denis Suárez
MF22 Yevhen Konoplyanka  68'
FW11 Ciro Immobile  92'  80'
Manager:
Unai Emery

Man of the Match:
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)[1]

Assistant referees:[2]
Damien MacGraith (Republic of Ireland)
Francis Connor (Scotland)
Fourth official:[2]
Graham Chambers (Scotland)
Additional assistant referees:[2]
Bobby Madden (Scotland)
Kevin Clancy (Scotland)

Match rules[14]

  • 90 minutes
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
  • Seven named substitutes, of which up to three may be used

Statistics

Second half[15]
StatisticBarcelonaSevilla
Goals scored13
Total shots108
Shots on target33
Saves02
Ball possession57%43%
Corner kicks12
Fouls committed117
Offsides11
Yellow cards12
Red cards00
Extra time[15]
StatisticBarcelonaSevilla
Goals scored10
Total shots63
Shots on target21
Saves11
Ball possession68%32%
Corner kicks30
Fouls committed57
Offsides11
Yellow cards32
Red cards00
Overall[15]
StatisticBarcelonaSevilla
Goals scored54
Total shots2417
Shots on target106
Saves25
Ball possession62%38%
Corner kicks84
Fouls committed2021
Offsides34
Yellow cards45
Red cards00

Broadcasters

The match was shown on beIN Sports in Spain.[16]

See also

References