The story appears on

Page A15

August 23, 2010

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Soccer

Barca, Inter savor Cup glory

LIONEL Messi scored a hat-trick to lead Barcelona to a 4-0 victory over Sevilla on Saturday and a 5-3 aggregate win in the Spanish Super Cup while Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o scored twice to help get Rafael Benitez's era at the treble winner off to a perfect start with a 3-1 triumph over AS Roma in the Italian Super Cup.

Argentine forward Messi had a quiet World Cup in South Africa in June-July but looked more comfortable back among his club mates at the Nou Camp.

Messi grabbed two well-taken first-half goals after Sevilla's Abdoulay Konko had put the ball in his own net early on, and rounded off the night with a third at the end.

"We've won another important title after turning round what was a difficult (first leg) result. We now have the first trophy of the season," Messi told Spanish television.

"I treat football as something you have to enjoy and try to do that to the best of my abilities here and with my national team," he replied when asked about criticism he has received in Argentina.

Having lost the first leg 1-3 in Seville last week with a second-string side, Barcelona fielded an almost full-strength team to win La Liga's traditional curtain raiser for a record ninth time, which is one more than archrival Real Madrid. The win was also a boost for the Catalan side ahead of the league season, which begins this weekend.

Coach Pep Guardiola refused to speak about the future of striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic before the match and gave little away as he left the Swede on the bench for Bojan Krkic.

In Milan, Cameroon international Eto'o struck in the 71st and 80th minutes after Goran Pandev had canceled out John Arne Riise's opener for Roma in the first half.

Fourth title

The goals ensured Inter bagged its fourth title of the year after it won an unprecedented Champions League-Serie A-Italian Cup treble under Jose Mourinho last season.

The Super Cup is usually played between the Serie A and Italian Cup winners but with Inter claiming a clean sweep, Roma took part in this season's curtain-raiser because it was runner-up in both domestic competitions.

"I'm very happy. We showed character after we conceded the goal," coach Benitez told Rai television. "The most beautiful thing of the night was the team's reaction."

Benitez fielded the same starting lineup Mourinho used to sink Bayern Munich 2-0 in May's Champions League final.

The match at the San Siro was suspended for about five minutes after Inter's second goal because Roma fans threw flares on to the field.

Inter next faces Atletico Madrid in the European Super Cup on Friday, then is scheduled to open the Serie A three days later against Bologna.





 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend