Barcelona triumphs 3-2 in extra time of Copa del Rey Final
It doesn’t matter what year it is played, how each team is faring or the makeup of the rosters of each team. Because of its nature and position as the greatest darby in the Spanish league, if not one of the best rivalries in world club football, El Clasico always produces a great viewing spectacle. The players understand that this is one of the most important games they will play in a given year, and the only other more important ones are games against the same rival that may occur in other competitions, whether that is La Copa, or La Liga, or Champions League.
The best illustration of this occurred in 2011, when In a single 18-day period, Real Madrid and Barcelona played four El Clásico matchups. These included one La Liga game, a Copa del Rey final, and two legs of the Champions League semi-finals. This was considered a unique and intense period in the rivalry’s history.
Watching Barcelona play Real Madrid not only produces great drama on the pitch, but what it always reveals, without failure, is the distinct philosophies of the two great Spanish clubs: Barca’s legendary possession football coupled with a enhanced version of line breaking passes (Flick’s tweak) versus Real Madrid’s stout defense, lightning fast counter-attacks, and mastery in set pieces. Barcelona’s commitment to its philosophy of creating great players that learn its style to Real’s philosophy of buying the best and integrating them into a whole. The clash of styles is as classic as the rivalry itself; it’s what gives the rivalry its special meaning.
Of course, as this year has now proven, when Barcelona is loaded with generational talent, no other team in the world can match the style that they invented and continue to perfect. (Consider that if Barcelona played Man City, the team that most recently is the best imitator of the Barcelona school, mostly because its coach Pep Guardiola was reared in it, I would fully expect Barca to have an edge in possession, albeit a small one.) And when they are on top of their game, Barcelona is a difficult club to beat.
Barcelona’s record against their rivals this year may be unparalleled in history. In an early meeting in October 2024, Barcelona ripped the Merengues 4-0 at the Bernabeu, a win which had followed a similar demolition of Bayern Munich (4-1) in a Champions League game just days before. In January, in Jeddah Saudi Arabia, Mbappe got Real Madrid off to a fast start but in the end it was another resounding win (5-2) for the Barcelona squad. When I first started watching soccer, when I lived in Spain in 1974, Barcelona, led by Johan Cruyff, crushed Real Madrid 5-0 in the Spanish capital. (That game and season marked the start of the modern day Barcelona team that we know today.) But more than one lopsided victories between the two titans in a single season are rare.
Early on in this encounter it was obvious that the aforementioned patterns would prevail. Barcelona would have the ball and Real would sit back in their defensive block and counter with lightning speed. That’s been the time tested strategy against Barcelona, mostly because teams don’t really have any other choice. As good as Real look against other teams, in the sense that they can outpossess other teams and force them to counter, they can never seem to do this against teams that practice the Barcelona style, whether that is the Blaugrana itself, or other incarnations of that style such as Man City or even Arsenal (the team that just recently vanquished them in Champions League).
This game was intense from the beginning with Barca getting the lead 1-0 before Real scored two unanswered, and then Barca scoring the last 2 to finally win it. Three lead changes with a final goal in overtime was as much as any fan could ask for.
In the first half it was all Barcelona possession and Courtois making big saves, one of his finest on a header from Kounde. But in the 27th minute, Yamal proved why he’s the most lethal player in world football. Even with three men guarding him on the right side of the box, he still crossed it to Pedri just outside of the box, and the passing genius showed off his finishing touch with a shot that no goalie in the world was going to stop, not even Courtois.
Real’s best moments, and a sign of things to come, came in the 40th minute when Bellingham scored but it was annulled because he was offside. In the dying moments, Vini finally having found his groove, charged in on goal with speed before being fouled. The referee initially signalled a PK but it wa subsequently overruled by an offside.
In the second half, Vini had two shots early on forcing Szczęsny into his first two saves. Mbappe’s introduction into the second half levelled this match as Real created 5 chances in 10 minutes. On one of those Mbappe dribbled three Barca players and was fouled by DeJong, who grabbed his arm to gain a tactical foul rather than letting the Frenchman blow past the Barca defesne. Mbappe finished this off with a low hard free kick that bounced off the left post for the equalizing goal.
In the 74th minute, the perfect illustration of the stylistic differences materialized. As Barca pinged the ball from side to side looking for the perfect chance, Madrid stole the ball and mounted a 70m counter attack with Vini generating another scoring chance. While that didn’t go in, Tchouameni scored on the subsequent header from a perfect Guler corner at 77’. It was the 6th corner of the half for Real Madrid.
In the 83rd minute, Ferran latched on to a perfectly weighted ball from Yamal (the kid also has prodigious passing talent) enabled him to beat both Ruddiger and Courtois to level the score, and to send the game into overtime.
A perfect example of Barca’s more advanced passing occurred in the second half when they made two perfect 30-40 m passes to Raphinha that broke Real’s defense apart. Raphina put both balls wide (it wasn’t his best game) but the constant pressure exerted on Madrid paid off at the end.
With the score tied at 2-2 in extra time and PK’s looming, It was an uncharacteristic mistake from Luka Modric that gave Kounde his chance to shine. A clearing pass from deep in defense right into the middle of the field was intercepted by Kounde, who dribbled it once before striking the ball perfectly with a low hard shot to Courtois’ right and into the corner of the net. Even the best eventually succumb to the suffocating Barcelona press.
Although Barca always produce a great stream of talent, Barcelona’s current homebrewed stars Yamal, Pedri, Gavi, Cubarsi along with imports Raphina, Lewandoski, DeJong (from Ajax which is a similar academy system to Barcelona due mostly to Cruyff’s work in building both) and Ferran constitute a side that may match the great Barcelona teams of 2008-2011.
Starting off Barcelona’s most talented youngster in a generation, Lamine Yamal, who at only 17, looks like the second coming of Messi. A player able to break down opposing defenders at will with incredible footwork, speed, and a finishing touch that gets more polished with every minute he plays. Lamine himself may not like the comparisons, but they are now not only becoming irresistible but also more plausible. Pedri is like a hybrid of Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets, a player with the uncanny ability, characteristic of all the Masia academy players, to slow the game down, yet explosive enough to dribble past defenders and then deliver the most perfectly weighted passes into space. What made Pedri especially good this year was the number of defensive line breaking passes he made to lead La Liga. (But Pedri is not alone in midfield. Both Casado and DeJong also are great at line breaking passes. The Barca trio is in the top 4 of most line breaking passes in La Liga, with the bulk of their breaks in the second line category.) All of this rich midfield play has enabled Barca’s wingers Raphinha and especially Yamal to be on the receiving end of these perfect spot passes. Ferran and Lewandoski are perfect 9’s, which are very suited to playing Hanzi Flick’s more direct style (i.e. longer and more line breaking passes) than Barcelona has played before since it gives them better finishing opportunities.
With one trophy down, Barcelona are now looking for the treble. La Liga title is within reach as is the Champions League title. With the team that Barcelona has and the way they have been wielding their style upon their opponents, anything is possible.
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