Barcelona's Super Cup Exit Came with a Hint of Red

If there's any team who could recover from a 4-0 first leg defiicit, it'd be Barcelona.

But it looks like the Catalans should come up with a better comeback plan next time around.

Their Super Cup match against Athletic Bilbao ended at 1-1, putting them on the wrong side of a 5-1 aggregate.

Thus, the most successful club in the competition's history fell victim to the underdog’s jinx. The treble winners have been shaken to their core.

No one should be.

Remember the round before this one against Sevilla, when Barça treated defense like an ugly rumor?

There are only two reasons a side doesn't learn from a close call like that. One is arrogance. The other is inferior talent. House money's on the former.

In this one, the Catalans' start was about as Barça-like as it gets:

Luis Suárez uses more than just his teeth these days. This more conventional approach led to that marvelous finish from the magician born into this world as Lionel Messi:

Then stuff started rolling downhill for the favorites.

Gerard Piqué got the gate for saying the magic word:

Dude could use a group hug right about now.

At 11 v 10, Bilbao didn't take long to officially put paid to any Barcelona comeback hopes.

Gotta be exhilirating for. the Sevillistas.

Frankly, the superclub got what it deserved.