How Pedro won Super Cup for Barca

 Barcelona can take a big step towards a fifth trophy in
2015 when they face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish
Super Cup on Friday, just three days after sealing the
UEFA Super Cup with a remarkable 5-4 extra time
win over Sevilla. Pedro Rodriguez proved to be the
unlikely hero for the Catalans as the wantaway
winger, who had been controversially left out of the
starting line-up, came off the bench to smash home
the winner with five minutes left in extra time after
Barca had conspired to throw away a 4-1 second-half
lead.
“When you know that you could leave, it is a
complicated situation. I was very angry to have not
played (from the start) because I have always tried to
be professional and go out to help the team,” said
Pedro. “It is a complicated situation for many
reasons. Not for money as has been said, which is
another lack of respect. It is a question of continuity,
of minutes on the pitch and I am an ambitious
player.”
And he also hit back at Barca technical secretary
Robert Fernandez for claiming that he asked to leave
the club, citing that statement as
“unfortunate”. Pedro’s opportunities have been
limited since the arrival of Luis Suarez last season to
join Lionel Messi and Neymar in attack. However,
even without Neymar due to a bout of the mumps,
coach Luis Enrique opted for Rafinha ahead of Pedro
and was rewarded as he scored after Messi had fired
in two brilliant free-kicks to cancel out Ever Banega’s
opener for Sevilla.
Suarez then made it 4-1 early in the second-half, but
remarkably Sevilla produced a stunning fightback as
goals from Jose Antonio Reyes, Kevin Gameiro and
Yevhen Konoplyanka took the game into extra
time. And Javier Mascherano admitted the European
champions have plenty to work on ahead of the
upcoming two legs against Athletic if they are to add
the Spanish Super Cup to their trophy haul.
“For the fans it was the kind of spectacle you rarely
see. We are happy to have won, but we have a lot to
improve,” said the Argentine. “We committed a lot of
errors that made life difficult for us. We allowed
Sevilla to get back in the game, when you’re 4-1 up
and all of a sudden the result is in danger.” Barca
travel to the San Mames on Friday before hosting the
Basques at the Camp Nou next Monday.
Neymar misses out once more but Athletic are even
more affected by injuries with four first-team
regulars almost certain to miss out. Inaki Williams,
who scored Athletic’s goal when the two sides met in
the Copa del Rey final in May, Ander Iturraspe, Mikel
Rico and Iker Muniain are all sidelined and striker
Aritz Aduriz believes that is more of a blow to his
side than Barcelona missing Neymar.
“Their absences are very important for them, but so
are ours very important for us,” he said. “It is crucial
that we have our best team available. At the moment
we don’t and that damages us.”