Enrique hails squad as Messi leads cup romp

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (top) duels for the ball against Sevilla's Mariano during the Spanish Super Cup final soccer match between FC Barcelona and Sevilla at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain on Wednesday.
FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (top) duels for the ball against Sevilla's Mariano during the Spanish Super Cup final soccer match between FC Barcelona and Sevilla at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain on Wednesday.
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AFP, Barcelona :
Luis Enrique wanted his players to take the plaudits as Barcelona crushed Sevilla 3-0 to win their 12th Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday, 5-0 on aggregate.
Arda Turan and Lionel Messi blew away the Andalusians at the Camp Nou, with victory meaning the coach has won eight of the 10 competitions he has contested while in charge of Barcelona.
With the hosts already leading by two goals from the first leg, Sevilla-bar an early flurry of chances-were on the receiving end of a Barcelona football master class.
Turan put in his best display yet for the Catalans after a disappointing debut season, scoring once in each half.
But it was Messi who masterminded a relentless slew of assaults on Sevilla’s goal.
“I am very fortunate to have a group of unique players, who don’t stop surprising me,” Enriquw said in his post-match press conference.
“They are different and the good thing is that the new players have a lot of enthusiasm and will try and copy what those who have been here for years have been doing. It’s a true honour and a pleasure.”
Sevilla started brightly with Ben Yedder forcing a smart save from Claudio Bravo.
Barcelona withstood the early pressure and it took just 10 minutes for them to open the scoring.
A good move between Andre Gomes and Messi led to the latter putting Turan through and the Turk fired home to break the deadlock.
Gomes was one of Barcelona’s four summer signings and the other three, Samuel Umtiti, Denis Suarez and Lucas Digne, all also started the match.
French centre-back Umtiti was having a good game until shortly after the half-hour mark, when he blocked Mariano Ferreira’s shot with his arm and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

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