It’s the beginning of the football season in Europe and the clubs are yet to gain top form, so their tiredness showed itself in extra time as scoring opportunities started to appear.

The Ukrainians threatened to score first, but Barcelona netminder Victor Valdes was in the lower corner to save, after a Julius Aghahowa effort.

Barcelona answered with a great run from Bojan Krkić, who nearly put the ball between the legs of Shakhtar keeper Andrey Pyatov.

Barca struck when it seemed a penalty shootout was inevitable. And again it was some Messi brilliance. The Argentinean delivered a cute pass to substitute Pedro Rodriguez, who slid a finish into the bottom corner on 115 minutes, 1-0.

“I saw Messi in the middle, gave him the ball and he returned a through ball to me … I am delighted with the goal, but most of all, for winning the title,” Pedro explained to Barcelona’s official website.

Shakhtar failed to create any serious danger in the last five minutes to watch Barcelona celebrate their third Super Cup victory and the fifth trophy for manager Pep Guardiola in 14 months since taking charge of the Spanish Giants.

And the Ukrainians failed to become the second Eastern European club in a row to take the prestigious trophy, with Zenit St Petersburg triumphing over Manchester United 2-1 last year.

Chygrynsky – playing against a future club

Transfer rumors also added drama to the match. Shaktar’s Dmitry Chygrynsky was on the pitch playing against Barcelona just hours before his possible transfer to the Catalonian club.

“It’s pretty strange to be up against a team that you know you could soon be playing against, but once the game got underway, I kept a cool head and just got on with my job,” Dmitry Chygrynsky said.

The tall defender looked strong against his future partners, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, allowing them to create a lot less danger than usual.

“I think I may be in Barcelona on Sunday for my medical. I hope that goes well and I can then sign my contract,” he added.

The 22-year-old, who is a graduate of Shakhtar’s academy, has played 83 matches for the Donetsk side, scoring 7 goals. He also has 18 caps for Ukraine.