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Away win in Seville puts Barca on track for Spanish Supercup

Xinhua, August 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

FC Barcelona took a big step towards lifting the first domestic title of the Spanish football season as they won the first leg of the Spanish Supercup 2-0 in Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

With the return leg in the Camp Nou on Wednesday night Luis Enrique's side are now clearly on track to putting last season's 5-1 defeat to Athletic Club Bilbao behind them.

Barca began the game with Arda Turan in for Neymar, who is still at the Olympic Games, but with none of their new signings in the starting 11, while Sevilla had several new faces from the team which lost last season's King's Cup final to the Catalans.

Luis Suarez had the first chance with a smart turn after receiving a pass from Sergio Busquets, but his shot was saves by Sergio Rico.

As they did against Real Madrid in the European Supercup on Tuesday, Sevilla looked to pressure Barca high up the field forcing them to play long passes from the back.

Barca then suffered a double injury blow as first Jeremy Mathieu limped off with a muscle injury, while Andres Iniesta was replaced by Denis Suarez after hurting his knee in a collision with Sevilla defender Mariano.

Sevilla had the ball in the Barca half but were unable to create clear chances as the period came to an end.

Luis Suarez had the first chance of the second half after he headed at Rico after displacing Sergio Rico to get to the ball. Rico had to leave the pitch with a back problem and while Sevilla were down to 10 men Suarez opened the scoring after an excellent combination between Denis Suarez and Arda allowed the Uruguayan to fire home from 15 yards.

Barca and Sergio Busquets were finding more space in midfield as Sevilla tired in the heat and Rico had to react quickly to deny Messi a second for his side.

Tensions rose as the time passed and Franco Vazquez was booked for putting his arm into Messi's face, before Messi picked himself up to slide the ball in for recently introduced substitute Munir to score Barca's second of the night and give Barca on hand on the Supercup. Endit