Dembele the hero for Barcelona in Spanish Supercopa win over Sevilla

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde was full of praise for Ousmane Dembele, whose wonder-goal delivered victory in the Supercopa against Sevilla.

The Spanish champions came from behind after Pablo Sarabia’s ninth-minute goal as they levelled the game before half-time, when Gerard Pique fired in a rebound off a Lionel Messi free-kick.

It was Dembele’s shot into the top corner in the 78th minute that gave Barcelona the 2-1 win.

“We need a bit of shooting practice, but we are happy because in spite of everything, we have beaten a great rival,” Valverde told the club’s official website. “We fell behind and that cost us, but we got better as the game went on.

“He [Dembele] is a player with great qualities, and today has left us with something to be happy about.”

There was drama throughout the match – Sevilla had plenty of chances to find a second goal, but a penalty miss by Wissam Ben Yedder in the 90th minute gave Barca the victory.

“The most complicated thing when you play against a super team is that you have to compete, that means making it difficult for the opponent with all your weapons,” Sevilla boss Pablo Machin said.

“If we scored the penalty, we multiplied the options. We could have won the game, but we did not score that penalty, and Barca became champions.”