The 2014 Copa del Rey Final was the 112th final of Spain's premier football cup since its establishment (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The match was an ''

El Clásico El Clásico or el clásico (; ca, El Clàssic, ; ) is the name given to any football match between rival clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Originally referring to competitions held in the Spanish championship, the term now includes every ...

'' between

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

on 16 April 2014 at

Mestalla Mestalla Stadium ( es, Estadio de Mestalla , ca-valencia, Estadi de Mestalla ) is a football stadium in Valencia, Spain. The stadium is the home of Valencia Club de Fútbol and has a capacity of 48,600 seats, making it the 8th-largest stadium ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, making it the seventh such Copa del Rey final ( the most recent was also played at the Mestalla on 20 April 2011). Real Madrid won the cup for the 19th time after a 2–1 win. In winning the final, Real Madrid went on to play against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

, the winners of the 2013–14 La Liga season, in the

2014 Supercopa de España The 2014 Supercopa de España was a two-legged football match-up played in August 2014 between the champions of 2013–14 La Liga, Atlético Madrid, and the winners of the 2013–14 Copa del Rey, Real Madrid. The first leg ended 1–1. Atlético wo ...

Road to the final

Build-up

The match was rescheduled to be played three days earlier than the original date as there was a chance that both clubs could have

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

semi-finals the following week. Each team was allotted 20,000 tickets for club members. Real Madrid's top scorer of the season

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

missed the final due to knee and thigh injuries. Real Madrid were appearing in their 39th Copa del Rey Final, with a prior tally of 18 victories, while Barcelona had won 26 of their 35 finals. The two teams had each won three of the six previous ''El Clásico'' finals: Real Madrid in 1936,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

and 2011, Barcelona in

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. The 2011 win was Real Madrid's most recent, having been defeated in the 2013 final. Barcelona had last won the cup in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Match

Summary

After 11 minutes Real Madrid went in front when

Ángel Di María Ángel Fabián Di María (born 14 February 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for club Juventus and the Argentina national team. He can play as either a winger or attacking midfielder. Di María began his career with ...

's low left footed shot from the left went through

Jordi Alba Jordi Alba Ramos (born 21 March 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. He is often regarded as one of the best left-backs of his generation. Alba started his ...

's legs and in off goalkeeper

José Manuel Pinto José Manuel Pinto Colorado (born 8 November 1975) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After making a name for himself at Celta, with which he made his La Liga debut, he signed for Barcelona in 2008, going o ...

's left hand. Barcelona were level in the 68th minute when

Marc Bartra Marc Bartra Aregall (, ; born 15 January 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor and the Catalonia national team. He started his career at Barcelona, where he played 103 profession ...

headed into the far corner of the net after a

Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was r ...

corner from the left. The winning goal came with five minutes to go when

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

picked the ball up just inside his own half on the left wing and went past Bartra at a blistering pace (at one point off the field before running back onto the field) leaving Bartra in his wake, before running into the penalty area, evading more challenges and then composedly slotting the ball left-footed low past the goalkeeper from six yards out. Some football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

s labelled his goal as a masterclass, whilst Barcelona coach

Gerardo Martino Gerardo Daniel "Tata" Martino (born 20 November 1962) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He holds the record of appearances with the team playing a ...

admitted that it was "difficult to see a player sprint like that at that stage of the game".

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copa Del Rey Final 2014

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...