Athletic Bilbao vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from Spanish Super Cup
Athletic Bilbao shocked everyone around the footballing world on Friday as they defeated Barcelona 4-0 at home in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
Mikel San Jose opened the scoring for Athletic with a brilliant effort from inside the center circle in the 13th minute that caught Marc-Andre ter Stegen off guard.
In the second half, Aritz Aduriz contributed a trio of goals to put Ernesto Valverde's side squarely in the driver's seat ahead of Monday's second leg at the Camp Nou.
While Athletic looked superb on the night, Barca appeared disjointed on numerous occasions in all aspects of the match, which is something they will need to fix ahead of the second leg.
Continue reading to see the winners and losers from Athletic Bilbao's home triumph.
Winner: Aritz Aduriz
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Aduriz was the star of the match for Athletic Club as he netted three second-half strikes to send Barca back home with plenty of defensive concerns.
In the 53rd minute, the 34-year-old forward easily rose above Javier Mascherano and nodded in Sabin Merino's cross from the left wing. Aduriz's first strike took the wind out of Barca's sails, but no one expected what was to come next.
Aduriz added his second in the 62nd minute following another set of defensive errors by Luis Enrique's side. Six minutes later, he completed his hat-trick with a coolly taken penalty after Dani Alves was whistled for a foul on a set piece.
After the match, Aduriz praised his side's effort but also acknowledged the four-goal lead could be hard to hold onto at the Camp Nou, per AS: "We know how difficult it is to put four past Barca, not many teams do that. Four goals at Camp Nou isn't a lot."
Loser: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen
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Ter Stegen was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons in the 13th minute, as his headed clearance found the right foot of San Jose at midfield.
After he delivered the botched clearance, the German goalkeeper failed to get back on his line and allowed San Jose to fire an effort from long distance over his head.
That was not the first time in the match in which Ter Stegen displayed shakiness. A few minutes earlier, he succumbed to the Athletic pressure and gifted the hosts the ball with another bad clearance.
Things went from bad to worse for Ter Stegen in the second half as he allowed three more goals. In his last 210 minutes of play, he has conceded eight goals to a pair of Spanish sides.
Despite all the doom and gloom on Friday, Mascherano told AS after the match that Barca still have a chance to right things and lift the trophy: "We're still not down and out. We can turn this around."
Winner: Mikel San Jose
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Before we go into detail about San Jose's brilliant strike, let's commend him for even trying an effort like that. Most midfielders would not risk missing on a low-percentage shot like the one he hit in the 13th minute.
San Jose had the wherewithal to pick his head up right away after bringing in Ter Stegen's bad clearance and realized how much space the Barca goalkeeper left for a long-distance strike to beat him.
While the golazo will be San Jose's memorable moment from the match, he also played a key role in the midfield battle. Even when the creative duo of Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta entered the match in the second half, San Jose and the Athletic midfield commanded the pace of play.
Valverde will need his midfield to put in the same effort on Monday to earn a chance of lifting the Spanish Super Cup.
Loser: Dani Alves
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You could honestly pick any Barcelona defender who featured on Friday and dissect his mistakes, but Alves was the worst offender at the San Mames.
On the second goal of the night, the 23-year-old Merino easily beat Alves to set up Aduriz's header with a cross from the left wing.
Alves' brutal defensive display extended to the next two goals. He played a terrible ball back across the box in the 62nd minute and was whistled for a penalty in the 68th minute.
Although the Brazilian can still be counted on as a valuable piece to the Barca lineup when he is in form, he didn't put himself in a good position to earn another call from Luis Enrique to start on the right side of defense for Monday's second leg.
Winner: Ernesto Valverde
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Valverde got his players to execute his game plan to perfection on Friday night.
Although the first 10 minutes looked a little rough on the eyes from an Athletic Bilbao perspective, they were able to play themselves into the game and started to create chances in the final third.
Thanks to the pressure used from the start of the contest, Athletic broke down a Barca squad that may have been suffering from a bit of pre-season fatigue after going 120 minutes against Sevilla on Tuesday in the UEFA Super Cup.
The most impressive aspect of the performance delivered by Valverde's side was the ability to limit Barca's front three to very few chances. Outside of Gorka Iraizoz's side save on Lionel Messi's free-kick right before half-time, the Barca attack did not put the goalkeeper into a world of difficulty.
Valverde deserves plenty of credit for his squad's showing at home, but now the real test awaits on Monday at the Camp Nou.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
