Sevilla 0-2 Barcelona: Luis Suarez and Munir settle first-leg encounter

Half-way there. Barcelona took a commanding lead in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup final, with Luis Suarez and Munir El Haddadi scoring the goals that leave the Catalan side sitting pretty ahead of the return on Wednesday night.

The first 45 minutes was not pleasant for Barcelona, as they struggled to find their rhythm and saw two players go off injured.

Jeremy Mathieu hurt his hamstring and then Andres Iniesta's knee reacted badly after a fierce challenge by Gabriel Mercado, with the captain taken off on his 594th appearance - the second most ever for the club, taking over from Carles Puyol who had 593.

However, on the bright side, the two replacements did a sterling job. Brought on for their official debuts, Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez played superbly, with the latter helping break the deadlock.

Luis Suarez had missed two good chances, one at the start of each half, with Sergio Rico denying him on both occasions, but it was third time lucky for the Uruguay hitman.

Denis dinked a tidy ball into the box, where the much maligned Arda Turan chested it down perfectly for Suarez to finish in style.

That goal seemed to break Sevilla, who had played well in the first period without much to show for it. Jorge Sampaoli's team gave as good as they got, although couldn't turn their possession and attacking intent into clear-cut chances to worry Claudio Bravo.

However they tired in the second half, no doubt feeling the effects of playing 120 minutes against Real Madrid in Trondheim on Tuesday night.

Barcelona improved as the match wore on, creating more chances and eventually found the net, when Lionel Messi fed substitute Munir El Haddadi, who ran through and tucked the ball past Sergio Rico to seal the victory.

It was tough on the goalkeeper who, on top of his good saves from Suarez, also denied Messi when the Argentine had been worked in by his Uruguayan team-mate.

For their part the closest Sevilla came was when a Javier Mascherano clearance cannoned back off Vitolo, but Claudio Bravo was alert to the danger and dealt with it well.

He started with Marc-Andre ter Stegen out injured, while Luis Enrique also favoured Mathieu at left-back ahead of Digne, although based on the Frenchman’s good performance, that may not happen again.

Arda also played well on the left wing, while Sergi Roberto looked more solid than Aleix Vidal at right-back. “I am very happy with everything,” said Luis Enrique after the game, with the scent of the season’s first piece of silverware in his nostrils.