Europe: 'Wonderful' Sevilla seize initiative against Barca

Sevilla came from behind to beat Barcelona 3-1 in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup, the curtain-raiser to the season played between league and cup winners.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave Barcelona an early lead on Saturday, only for Sevilla to turn the tables in the second half with two goals from Frederic Kanoute and one from Luis Fabiano. The second leg will be played this Saturday in Barcelona.

Kanoute, who said the result would give his side a confidence boost ahead of Wednesday's Champions League qualifying match away to Celtic's conquerers Sporting Braga, added: "Our second-half performance was just wonderful."

Meanwhile, a Ruud van Nistelrooy hat-trick steered Hamburg into the German Cup second round with a 5-1 win over amateurs Torgelower yesterday.

However, VfL Wolfsburg, under new coach Steve McClaren, had to wait until the 80th minute to break the resistance of regional league club Preussen Muenster, with Brazilian Grafite scoring the winner two minutes from time in their nervous 2-1 win.

So far all but two top-flight clubs - St Pauli and Hanover 96 - have survived the tricky one-leg first round ties, with title holders Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 in action tonight.