Barcelona v Real Madrid: Copa del Rey final – live
Key events
65 min: Olmo off, Fermín López on for Barcelona, the first change made by Hansi Flick.
63 min: Corner for Madrid. Szczesny punches clear. This is pretty end to end now. You fancy there’s a couple more goals in it, at least. The atmosphere in Seville sounds … atmospheric.
62 min: Vinícius is giving the Barcelona defenders the runaround now. He storms to the edge of the box and is brought down. He demands a free-kick, as for the fans, but the referee waves away their claims.
58 min: Bellingham is starting to boss this and Real Madrid look more threatening. Modric pulls off a good sliding tackle on Pedri as the Barça man tries to bring the ball out of defence. The ball falls to Vinícius and he fires a powerful curling shot from the edge of the box the flashes just wide! It looked like he tried to wrap his foot around it and curl it from outside the post but didn’t catch it right. He gees the crowd up for good measure. Let’s have it!
55 min: Fran Garcia is also on for Madrid. Mendy, Ceballos, Rodrygo and Vázquez have been relieved of their duties. So Ancelotti has made four changes and Barcelona, thus far, have made none.
54 min: Ancelotti shuffles his pack further. Arda Guler and Luka Modric on. Barcelona suddenly have a three on two as the Real Madrid defence appears to go walkies. Olmo passes to Raphinha who cracks a low shot beyond the far post. That should really have been 2-0.
53 min: Oh, a lad called Mbappé is on the field for Madrid. He launches on a very PlayStation run down the left flank, including a couple of lolliops, but he’s eventually crowded out near the byline.
49 min: Sensational midfield-general stuff by Bellingham, sliding into a clean tackle, jumping up, then embarking on a mazy, ghosting run into the pocket of space in front of the Barça central defenders. He slides a good ball to Vinícius, ahead of him, whose angled shot is saved. Class from Bellingham, the kind of thing that sets him apart.
49 min: Pedri fancies this. He creates space for himself on the edge and hammers a right-footed shot that flies high, wide and handsome. Mainly high in fairness and not overly wide.
47 min: “Was refreshing to see an official stand up for themselves yesterday, especially with a political entity like Real Madrid involved,” emails Paul. “But do feel like I’m watching someone really over-exaggerate themselves to please everybody. Not great for a ref.”
Mister Bengoetxea does seem the strutting, preening type of referee, doesn’t he? I’m quite sure he’s a lovely man though. Well actually I’m not. But the point stands.
Second half kick off!
Vamos! Allez! Go! Vai!
Please keep the banter coming on email.
By the way, I have got live pictures. It was an eventful start from a technical point of view, and will surely be an anecdote to include in my tell-all memoirs.
During half time analysis it was pointed out that Ceballos of Real Madrid appeared to foul Cubarsí on one of those Barcelona corners.
ICYMI, Sid Lowe has the lowdown on the controversial buildup to this one:
Mbappé is warming up.
“Madrid are lucky to only be one goal down,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Whatever the root cause of their problems this season, taking Mbappé out didn’t fix it. I can sort of see a way adding Trent would, because they lack a creative spark more than anything. Their defence would look a bit better if the other team had to worry about accurate 80-yard through-balls.”
Half time! Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid
Lucas Vázquez of Real Madrid goes over to the referee for a good whinge after the half-time whistle blows. Barcelona have been better – much better – but Real Madrid are still in this.
Here’s a touch of half time reading:
45 min + 4: Another free-kick for Barça. Olmo curls a cross goalwards, but it’s flicked out for another corner. Olmo takes the corner and this time it’s slightly better defending from Madrid who clear their lines.
45min + 2: Penalty to Real Madrid?! Or is it?! Vinícius speeds away from the cover and is then clattered as he moves into the area: Szczesny plus two defenders look to triple-team him. It looks like the ref may have given a penalty but Vinícius is ruled offside. This, of course, will completely calm down all the controversy about refereeing …
45 min: We’ll have five added minutes. Lamine Yamal goes down after some handbags with Ceballos.
45 min: “Madrid’s defence is already iffy. Trent won’t make it any better,” opines Joe.
43 min: Now Raphinha hits a free-kick that bounces out off the wall and out for a corner. Then there is pandemonium in the Madrid defence when the ball comes is floated over! There’s an attempted flick by Torres at the near post – he misses it and the ball clips the far post! Madrid at sixes and sevens. It looked like there might be some over-zealous pushing and shoving by Real Madrid to boot.
40 min: The former Leeds legend Raphinha is a constant threat down the Barcelona left. It’s a lovely balance they’ve got with him on that wing and Lamine Yamal on the right. Twisted blood for the overworked Real Madrid defenders and no mistake.
“No one’s out-physicalled him,” says whoever is on co-commentary for Premier Sports of Lamine Yamal. Has anyone ever out-physicalled you? How does it feel? “>Email me.
38 min: “My own description of the goal was ‘a cracker from Pedri’,” emails John. “Delivered to an eight-year-old Barça-mad Irish lad just returning home on a flight from Málaga right now. Honestly, some parents just don’t plan.”
“Well …” chips in Mark, who was planning to go to bed. “Glad I stayed up for THAT goal!!”
35 min: Bellingham scores! But he’s offside. A smart finish from the youngster but he knew straight away that he was off. Bellingham himself started that move, bringing the ball out of defence for Madrid.
34 min: This has gone by the form book so far. Barcelona are well, well on top. The referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, looks annoyed about something and gestures with both hands at … someone. Dunno what that was about. More news as we get it.
31 min: Tchouaméni hits Olmo with a reducer from behind, as his opponent looks to take a pass to feet in the middle of the park. Nasty tackle and it’s a yellow card. Maybe lucky it wasn’t a harsher punishment. Olmo needs treatment.
Goal! 28 min: Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid (Pedri)
What a hit! The ever-dangerous Lamine Yamal is released down the right flank, and he promptly cuts back and threads a lovely low ball to the edge of the penalty area. Pedri, running on to it in plenty of space, crafts a sensational first-time, right-footed finish that curls into the far corner, away from Courtois, and gives the goalkeeper absolutely no chance! That was art.
27 min: Vinícius powers out of defence with a diagonal run. But Lamine Yamal can match him for pace and nicks the ball off his toe before he can advance into the Barcelona half.
25 min: Carlo Ancelotti is booked. If the referee was hoping for a quiet night, it looks to be in vain.
23 min: England’s Jude Bellingham now makes a damaging run in behind the Barcelona back line and suddenly it’s the Catalans that are severely stretched. The ball is worked back for Garcia to have a shot from the edge of the box, that is blocked.
20 min: Close! Raphinha whips in a good set-piece from the Barcelona left. Koundé gets up and powers a header goalwards that is dropping in under the bar – Courtois tips it over. On the touchline, Carlo Ancelotti is not a happy man. His team are clearly second best at the moment.
18min: Lamine Yamal cuts in from that right wing and smacks a low left-footed shot that sneaks fractionally past Courtois’s far post! He’s the brightest spark on the field right now.
15min: Rodrygo dribbles into an advanced position for Real, on their right wing, but the move breaks down and Barça break at lightning-quick speed. Raphinha crosses for Ferran Torres and some desperate defending solves an urgent problem for Real Madrid.
12min: Lamine Yamal makes a bright run down the right for Barcelona. The score is nil-nil.
“I’d love to watch the game but a 10pm kick-off is getting a bit too near my bedtime,” emails Mark. “How do the players put up with it? It must be hard to be at your peak performance level so late in the day. Good night.
“P.S. Well, if the game is exciting enough I might be able to stay up for it…”
9 min: A few gremlins in the machine tonight, I’m afraid to report, and I’m unable to watch the live match. Rest assured I’ll keep you updated with all the key events though …
2min: Apologies, a few technical issues here, please bear with me.
First half kick-off!
Here we go.
“There are still no events for this match,” states the live page on the official Copa del Rey website. Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong.
So did Barney Ronay, in typically excellent fashion:
“Pick a card. Any card. No. Not that one. Wait. Keep your eyes on the ball. The glass. Hang on.”
Real Madrid were really not very good against Arsenal in the Champions League a couple of weeks back.
Sid Lowe reflected on their exit:
Teams
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé has to make do with a place on the bench while the 18-year-old wunderkind, Pau Cubarsí, starts for Barcelona.
Real Madrid: Courtois; Vázquez, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy; Tchouaméni, Ceballos, Valverde, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinícius. Substitutes: Lunin, Gonzalez, Alaba, Mbappé, Modric, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Garcia, Brahim Díaz.
Barcelona: Szczesny; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez, Martín; Pedri, De Jong, Olmo; Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Ferran Torres. Substitutes: Ter Stegen, Araujo, Gavi, Ansu Fati, Iñaki, Torre, Christensen, Fermin, Victor, Eric, Fort.
What a game this is shaping up to be, by the way.
Preamble
“Faced by rumours in the last few hours, we wish to communicate our team has never proposed renouncing playing the final,” Real Madrid said in a statement released late last night before this high-stakes encounter against Barcelona. “Our club understands that the unfortunate and inappropriate declarations made by the referees assigned to this game, 24 hours before the final, cannot stain a sporting event of global significance.”
Hardly a serene buildup, then, but here we are. Real’s confirmation that they would grace us with their presence capped a day of uncertainty on Friday after the appointed referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, spoke of repeated criticism aimed at him on Real Madrid’s TV channel and by the club’s fans. “When a child goes to school and people tell him his father is a thief, it’s messed up,” he said in a press conference.
Real Madrid consequently cancelled the pre-match pleasantries in protest, but we do have a game on, and it promises to be extra-spicy. Sid Lowe has the full story of that contentious buildup, and kick-off will be coming up at 9pm UK time.
Vamos!
