Messi double inspires Barca win

Lionel Messi’s double inspired European and Spanish champions Barcelona to a 3-2 victory over bitter rivals Real Madrid in their Super Cup second leg clash on Wednesday night and a 5-4 aggregate win.

The bad feeling between the two sides boiled over at the end of the match which saw three players sent off – Marcelo and Mesut Ozil of Real Madrid and Barcelona’s David Villa.

Barcelona were far from their best with their players looking rusty and they lacked their usual slick passing, while Real took the game to them.

However, Andres Iniesta put Barca ahead with a deft finish before Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal in a Real Madrid shirt to equalise.

Messi, though, was the key player as he scored at the end of the first half and again three minutes from the end with French striker Karim Benzema finding the back of the net in between.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was overcome with emotion.

“Words fail me in how to congratulate my players on how they played tonight,” he said.

“They are extraordinary and legendary players.”

Guardiola only gave new £29 million signing Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal captain, a few minutes of playing time towards the end of the game.

But it was enough time for Marcelo to be dismissed for a late challenge on the Spanish midfielder.

Villa and Ozil were also red-carded in the subsequent angry exchanges, the latter being sent off from the substitutes bench as he had gone off earlier in the half, which prompted Guardiola to issue a warning after the match.

“We are going to have to be very careful and calm down the play on the pitch, because this type of match will finish really badly one day,” he said.

For his part, Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho continued his verbal assault on Barcelona, labelling the European champions “a small team” after Wednesday’s game.

Mourinho allegedly thrust a finger in the eye of Barca assistant Tito Vilanova in a melee in the closing stages. The Portuguese boss, who will this season serve a touchline ban in Champions League fixtures after comments made about Barca last season, could now face further action but he still chose to question the Catalans’ sporting morals.

The Real coach was particularly unhappy that the ball-boys appeared to disappear after half-time with the home side 2-1 up on the night and 4-3 ahead on aggregate. He said: “Real Madrid gave a spectacular performance from the first to the last minute.

“We came here to play. What I’m about to say is not a criticism, I’m just stating a fact: there were no ball-boys in the second half, which is something typical of small teams when experiencing difficulties.

“I’m not going to say we’re happy because we didn’t win the Spanish Super Cup, that would be hypocritical of me.

“But we intended to play like men and not fall on the ground at the slightest touch.”

Barca defender Gerard Pique was clear in his opinion on where the blame lay. “I do not talk about the brawl. But it’s a shame, it is not the first time and it’s always the same,” said the Spain international.

“Someone has to take action on the matter. Mourinho is destroying Spanish football.

“There is talk about the Catalans, but the problem is with Madrid. I think it’s going too far. It cannot always end well. In the end this will end very badly.”

Despite the controversy, Mourinho feels his team are getting closer to Barca.

He added: “We feel like we played two very good games in their entirety. This team is better than it was last year.

“The longer you work with people, the better the conditions are to have a better year. We played nine games this pre-season and proved to be better than we were last year in the last two.”