Barcelona beat Madrid 3-2 in first leg

Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez scored second-half goals to give Barcelona a 3-2 first-leg home victory over Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday.

The traditional curtain raiser to the new Spanish season was threatening to become a lacklustre affair until Ronaldo put Madrid ahead on 55 minutes.

Real Madrid's Casillas and Barcelona's Xavi greet each other. Photo: AFP

Barca replied three times before Angel Di Maria capitalised on a Victor Valdes mistake to give Madrid some hope ahead of next week's second-leg in the Santiago Bernabeu.