2014 Copa del Rey Final


The 2014 Copa del Rey Final was the 112th final of Spain's premier football cup since its establishment. The match was an El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona on 16 April 2014 at Mestalla in Valencia, making it the seventh such Copa del Rey final.
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, the winners of the 2013-14 La Liga season, in the 2014 Supercopa de España.

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 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 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 and 2011, Barcelona in 1968, 1983 and 1990. The 2011 win was Real Madrid's most recent, having been defeated in the 2013 final. Barcelona had last won the cup in 2012.

Match

Summary

After 11 minutes Real Madrid went in front when Ángel Di María's low left footed shot from the left went through Jordi Alba's legs and in off goalkeeper José Manuel Pinto's left hand. Barcelona were level in the 68th minute when Marc Bartra headed into the far corner of the net after a Xavi corner from the left.
The winning goal came with five minutes to go when Gareth Bale picked the ball up just inside his own half on the left wing and went past Bartra at a blistering pace 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 pundits labelled his goal as a masterclass, whilst Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino admitted that it was "difficult to see a player sprint like that at that stage of the game".

Details