Real Madrid celebrates with its 20th Copa del Rey
Real Madrid lived up to expectations ahead of the Copa del Rey final and triumphed with their 20th trophy of the tournament after beating Osasuna 2-1 in the decider at La Cartuja in Seville. The big hero for "los blancos" in the match was Rodrigo (2', 70'), who scored two goals for his team's success, and the opponent's goal was the work of Lucas Toro (58').
Thus, the "Royal Club" came out as the winner of their 40th final for the country's cup, and "los rojios" lost a final clash in the tournament for the second time in their history. On their way to the trophy, Madrid had previously eliminated Casereño, Villarreal, city rivals Atletico Madrid and arch-rivals Barcelona in succession.
This is Real Madrid's first Copa del Rey triumph since the 2013/14 season, when they last reached the final. In terms of trophies in this tournament, the Madrid giants are behind only the record holder Barca, who has as many as 31, and Athletic Bilbao, who has 23. This is the second Spanish Cup for Carlo Ancelotti at the head of the team (the previous one was in 2014), as he became the first Madrid coach to achieve this feat since Luis Molovny (1974 and 1982).
This time, Ancelotti bet on the strongest possible starting line-up. Thibaut Courtois was expected to be in goal. The central defensive pairing was composed of Eder Militao and David Alaba, with Daniel Carvajal and Eduardo Camavinga playing alongside them.
In midfield, the trio was made up of Federico Valverde, Aurelian Chuameni and Toni Kroos, with Luka Modric recovering from injury enough to feature as a substitute from the bench.
At the forefront of the attack was Karim Benzema, who was supported on both flanks by Vinicius Junior and Rodrigo. On the other hand, Yagoba Arasate lined up his players in a 4-2-3-1 with Ante Budimir as the central striker, while the other three in forward positions were Moy Gomes, Aymar Oros and Abde.
It wasn't even the second minute when Real took the lead. Vinicius broke into the penalty area and after managing to secure the ball, he headed it to an unmarked Rodrigo who scored with ease. It was the earliest goal by a Madrid player in a tournament final since 1946, when Sabino Barinaga also scored in the second minute.
In the seventh minute, Aridane tried a header at a corner, but it only sent the ball into the hands of Courtois. Seconds later, the same thing happened with Budimir's header. Immediately after that, it was Oros's turn to try to beat the goalkeeper with his head, but he also failed. In the 15th minute, Lucas Toro also headed in, but unlike his teammates' previous attempts, he made it inaccurate.
In the 21st minute, Madrid finally looked for a second goal, but Valverde's long shot flew wide. Osasuna's next header was not long in coming, the ball going wide after Budimir's play.
In the 25th minute, Benzema finally got a chance to double his team's lead, but Sergio Herrera saved his dangerous shot. Just a minute later, Abde fought Militao for the ball and crossed it to Courtois, but Carvajal ran up and managed to clear the ball on its way towards the goal.
In the 32nd minute, Los Blancos were given the opportunity to take a direct free-kick from which Alaba shot admirably and saw the ball rattle the crossbar. Three minutes later, Vinicius attempted a technical kick that went just over the goal.
In the 39th minute, Kamavinga also scored with a miss. Three minutes later, Vinicius clashed with opposing captain David Garcia after the defender patted him mockingly on the head after a duel between them. The first scoring opportunity of the second half opened up for Benzema, but his shot was very disappointing.
Shortly after his teammate Vinicius also tried to sign, but his shot was also unsuccessful. So it was until the 58th minute when Toro equalized with a superb long-range shot. It is curious that in his teenage years, the midfielder went through the academy of Real Madrid. Four minutes later, Valverde tried to restore the lead to the "Royal Club", but his volley went wide of the goal.
However, "Los Blancos" did not give up and relatively quickly regained the lead with a goal similar to their first one. It happened in the 70th minute, when Vinicius once again broke into the penalty area and looked for his teammate in his center. Instead, the ball was poorly cleared by an opposing player.
That gave Kroos a chance to shoot, with his shot blocked by Aridane and turned into an assist for Rodrigo, who scored his second of the final. The Brazilian thus became the first Los Merengues player to score two goals in the decisive match for this trophy since Juan Gomez in 1980.
In the remaining minutes, Alaba and the reserve Antonio Rüdiger failed to make the victory of the "Royal Club" more convincing. In the end, it was the Real Madrid team that lifted the Copa del Rey for the 2022/23 season.
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