Barcelona needed a miracle when it went up against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup. Luis Enrique's team had been thrashed 4-0 in the first leg by the Copa Del Rey finalist.
Despite needing to over-haul a four-goal disadvantage, the European champion entered the game full of confidence with home advantage on its side.
Enrique made six changes to the side that was thrashed Friday, with a host of first-team regulars coming back into the team.
Barca found a way through the Bilbao defence just before the break. Luis Suarez headed down for Lionel Messi, who was able to take control and finish to put his team one up.
But any realistic hopes of a Barca comeback were dashed 10 minutes after the re-start, when Gerard Pique was shown a straight red card for dissent after the referee's assistant failed to flag Aritz Aduriz offside.
And Aduriz exploited the gaps in the Barca defence following that dismissal when he latched onto Javier Eraso's flick to slot into an empty net at the second attempt. The man who got a hat-trick in the first leg was on target again and it was 1-1.
That is how it finished. Bilbao clinched the Super Cup with an emphatic 5-1 win on aggregate, giving the club its first trophy in 31 years.
The defeat means Barcelona's hopes of matching the 2009 club record of six trophies in a calendar year are over.
But Enrique's men will have a chance for revenge when two sides meet in the opening game of the La Liga season Sunday.