Lionel Messi scored two second half goals Sunday to help Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 for the Spanish Super Cup trophy.
The Spanish giant, who completed a historic treble-winning campaign last season, secured their eighth Super Cup at 5-1 on aggregate following 2-1 win in the first leg a week ago.
The Nou Camp was desperate for Zlatan Ibrahimovic -- Barca's most expensive ever signing -- to score his first goal in the famous blue and red shirt. He almost did so on the half hour with a spectacular volley.
Messi made it 1-0 four minutes into the second half. In the 68th minute, Messi scored his second goal from the penalty spot after a Bilbao defender was harshly adjudged to have pulled down Daniel Alves.
Four minutes later, Bojan Krkic made it 3-0 after intercepting a naive backpass from Ander Iturraspe.
(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2009)