Barcelona defender Jules Kounde scored late in extra time to swing the tie
Barcelona beat rivals Real Madrid 3-2 to claim the Copa del Rey in a pulsating encounter in Seville on Saturday.
The build-up to the game was dominated by the affair regarding the match officials, with matchday referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea responding tearily to accusations by Real Madrid that he was partial, and then Madrid boycotting all official pre-game events.
But the atmosphere of the game soon swallowed all that up, and even the sight of the trophy delivered to the stadium via a man on a drone suddenly seemed less interesting.
Despite missing their point man Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona started on the front foot, Lamine Yamal terrorising the Madrid defence and coming close in the 18th minute.
Although Madrid grew into the game, Barcelona’s early pressure was rewarded when youngster Pedri finished off Yamal’s pass with a first-time curl that was always looking out of reach of Thibaut Courtois, putting La Blaugrana ahead.
Madrid made a flurry of changes in the second half to get back into the game, including introducing Kylian Mbappe, who had started on the bench. It took a while but in the 70th minute the Frenchman brought his team level with a fierce strike from a free kick that went in off the post, after Frenkie De Jong had cynically fouled him earlier.
Madrid came close again in the 74th minute when Barca’s Yamal was dispossessed and they went on a sharp counter attack, Vinicius neatly dropping the ball back to Mbappe, but the France international missed when he really should have scored, at least by his standards.
But the goal did come shortly after when Aurélien Tchouameni headed in from a corner taken by Arda Guler. It seemed rather easy for Los Blancos at this point. The game had clearly turned. The Madrid supporters turned their voices up, ‘Madrid, Madrid, Madrid’ echoing in the stadium.
Barcelona soon recovered though, and began to apply pressure. Yamal’s curling effort tested Courtois’ elasticity, and then soon after, the 17-year-old clipped a pass through to Ferran Torres that forced Courtois out too early, allowing the Spaniard to round him for a simple finish.
The game ended 2-2 and then went to extra time, when it seemed like the energy had been sapped out of all the players. It seemed like the tie would be decided in a penalty shoot-out, when Jules Kounde suddenly intercepted a pass from Luka Modric and sent a low drive whizzing into the bottom left corner.
At the final whistle there was both dejection and fury from the Real Madrid players. Someone on the bench threw a projectile at the referee, as if to question why he almost awarded Barcelona a penalty on the night – an obvious simulation by Raphinha, cancelled after a VAR review – or why he did not award one to Real Madrid in the stoppage time of extra time – prevented by Mbappe being offside. Rudiger was held back by his teammates, apparently wanting to confront the referee himself.
In the end, it seemed as if everyone knew this was coming, even Madrid themselves who, with all the mannerisms of a petulant child, had thrown a tantrum and almost refused to show up for the fight. But they did and now Barcelona leave Seville with the cup and their dreams of a treble still in tact, while Los Blancos will spend the rest of the night, the week, the season, in self reflection. Right now, the gap between the two teams feels a lot wider than just the four points in the La Liga table.
