Lionel Messi was sent off for the first time in his Barcelona career after Inaki Williams scored a sublime goal that gave Athletic Bilbao a shock 3-2 win in the Supercopa de Espana final.
The Catalan giants were on the brink of a record-extending 13th triumph in the competition after Antoine Griezmann scored twice, either side of Oscar De Marcos’ equaliser, to put Barcelona 2-1 up late on in normal time.
But Athletic, who knocked out holders Real Madrid in the semi-finals, equalised through substitute Asier Villalibre in the 90th minute and Williams scored early on in the additional period to turn the tie on its head.
Messi was then sent off in the dying moments of extra time when VAR spotted an off-the-ball incident involving Villalibre, as the Argentinian violently knocked the Athletic player to the ground.
FC Barcelona coach, Ronald Koeman, in post-game comments carried by Marca, was keen to underline that it was just a standalone game rather than a harbinger of doom.
“It’s not a step backwards,” he said.“A title is convenient to show that you’re on the right path, but we’ve still showed that we are. We’ve done everything to win, but we were very tired. For many players it will prove a good experience to have played in this final.”
Athletic were strong in the air and intelligent in earning fouls to set-up free-kicks, Koeman observed. “It’s a quality they have, how they win the fouls and the players they have,” he said. “We don’t have tall players, and for their second goal we didn’t adjust our defensive line properly and he took his goal well.”
