<
>

Luis Enrique plans to examine how Barcelona wasted three-goal lead

Luis Enrique was pleased with Barcelona's UEFA Super Cup victory but said he would have to examine how his side let Sevilla erase a three-goal lead to equalise.

Pedro's goal gave Barcelona the win in extra time, which was only necessary after Sevilla rallied from 4-1 down to level the score at 4-4 and force an extra 30 minutes.

The Barcelona manger credited Sevilla's resolve but said his side would look at how they wasted such a large advantage in the second half.

"Clearly when you're winning 4-1 your opponents have nothing to lose," Luis Enrique said. "What we need to do, though, is analyse what happened after that and how they got back into the match, through a penalty and some attacks down the flanks.

"It happens. We were winning 2-0 at Sevilla [last season] and they came back.

"People think Barca win automatically but that's not the case. We should be proud of these players."

With Neymar sidelined by the mumps, Luis Enrique initially left Pedro on the bench in favour of Rafinha before bringing on the eventual match-winner at the start of extra time.

After the game, Pedro called his transfer situation "complicated" with a possible deal to Manchester United near, and Luis Enrique was reluctant to speak about the forward's future.

"Pedro has some problems with his adductor muscle and you know about his current status so I picked the man I thought would be best in the circumstances and I would do the same again," the manager said.

"I understand why you're interested [in Pedro's transfer situtation] but I'm not going to say any more about it."

Lionel Messi scored twice from free kicks to rally Barcelona back from an early deficit following Ever Banega's third-minute free kick, and Luis Enrique said his players were challenged from the start.

"It's hard to win any trophy and this match showed that," Luis Enrique said. "The game was really difficult for us at the beginning -- we started off falling behind but came back against difficult opponents."

The UEFA Super Cup is Barcelona fourth trophy in 2015 and first in a season that will next see them face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup beginning on Friday.

"It was really tough. We're really happy about the trophy, for ourselves, the players and supporters. Sevilla reacted really well. We now have to think about the Spanish Super Cup."