The 2021 Copa del Rey final was a football match that decided the winner of the 2020–21 Copa del Rey, the 119th edition of Spain's primary football cup (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The match was played on 17 April 2021 at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona.[3][4]
 La Cartuja in Seville hosted the final. | |||||||
| Event | 2020–21 Copa del Rey | ||||||
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| Date | 17 April 2021 | ||||||
| Venue | La Cartuja, Seville | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Lionel Messi (Barcelona)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Juan Martínez Munuera (Valencian Community)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 0[note 1] | ||||||
Barcelona won the match 4–0 for a record 31st Copa del Rey title.[5][6]
Background
editThe tournament was played amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain which resulted in no crowds being allowed to be present in the stadiums. Barcelona's progress was characterised by narrow victories and dramatic comebacks, including being taken to extra time by part-time neighbours Cornellà after failing to score from two penalties,[7] finding the net twice in the last 20 minutes to overcome second-tier Rayo Vallecano,[8] and recovering from a 2–0 deficit with just three minutes remaining against Granada, taking the tie to extra time which ended in a 5–3 victory.[9] They gave themselves a mountain to climb once again in the semi-final against Sevilla (a repeat of a recent final in 2018 and the only round of the competition with two legs), going down 2–0 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium. In the return at Camp Nou, Ousmane Dembélé scored early and Marc-André ter Stegen saved a penalty to keep Barça hopes alive, but they were still behind with 90 minutes played; Gerard Piqué equalised in the fourth and last minute of stoppage time to level the tie on aggregate, and in extra time Martin Braithwaite found the winner to take his side into their 42nd final.[10]
Athletic Bilbao's route to the event was comparably uncertain: they came from behind to overcome third-level Ibiza 2–1 with a last-minute goal,[11] required a late winner again against Alcoyano (who had eliminated Real Madrid from the competition),[12] and scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage time minute to take their quarter-final against Real Betis to extra time, before advancing with a perfect conversion rate in a penalty shoot-out.[13] In the semi-finals against Levante they fell behind in both legs but found an equaliser (through Iñigo Martínez in the first match and a Raúl García penalty in the return) to again force extra time; the winner came from a deflected Álex Berenguer shot with eight minutes of the extended period remaining,[14] reaching the final for the 39th time (one back in 1904 was never played and the cup awarded to the Bilbao side in a walkover).[15]
At the time of the clubs qualifying for the 2021 event, the 2020 Copa del Rey final between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad was still to be played, with its rescheduled date of 3 April 2021 giving the Biscay club a unique opportunity to win the competition twice inside a fortnight[16] The delay also meant their current head coach Marcelino was the most recent manager to win the competition, having defeated Barcelona in the 2019 final while in charge of Valencia. That was the sixth consecutive final for the Blaugrana, and the first defeat for the Catalans since 2014; the sequence of finals is an outright record and the run of wins is a shared record along with Real Madrid in the 1900s and Athletic in the 1930s.[15] When the 2020 final was eventually played, Athletic fell to a 1–0 defeat.[17]
Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao had played each other in eight previous finals of the tournament; Barcelona won in 1920, 1942, 1953, 2009, 2012 and the most recent in 2015, and Athletic in 1932 and 1984.[15][18] Their 2021 meeting made the fixture the most played in the history of Copa Del Rey finals, breaking a tied record with Athletic v Real Madrid[note 2] (the third pairing of the trio, El Clásico between Madrid and Barcelona, has been played seven times).[15]
The sided had also met frequently in Supercopa de España finals; indeed all of Athletic's four appearances (1983, 2009, 2015 and 2021) in that competition were against Barcelona. The most recent of these was exactly three months prior to the Copa del Rey final and played at the same venue (behind closed doors due to the pandemic), with Athletic winning 3–2 after extra time to claim the trophy with a winning goal from Iñaki Williams.[20] By reaching the Copa del Rey final, both teams were assured qualification for the four-team 2022 Supercopa de España, giving Athletic the chance to defend their title.
In the 2020–21 La Liga meetings between the clubs (both played in January 2021 due to scheduling issues, two weeks either side of their Supercopa match), Barça had the edge with two wins (3–2 at San Mamés, 2–1 at Camp Nou, Lionel Messi scoring three of the goals) though the close scorelines in all three matches demonstrated the narrow margins between the sides overall.
Road to the final
edit| Athletic Bilbao | Round | Barcelona | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | Opponent | Result | ||
| Bye | First round | Bye | |||
| Bye | Second round | Bye | |||
| UD Ibiza | 2–1 (A) | Round of 32 | Cornellà | 2–0 (a.e.t.) (A) | |
| Alcoyano | 2–1 (A) | Round of 16 | Rayo Vallecano | 2–1 (A) | |
| Real Betis | 1–1 (4–1 p) (A) | Quarter-finals | Granada | 5–3 (a.e.t.) (A) | |
| Levante | 1–1 (H), 2–1 (a.e.t.) (A) | Semi-finals | Sevilla | 0–2 (A), 3–0 (a.e.t.) (H) | |
Key: (H) = Home; (A) = Away
Match
editDetails
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  Barcelona
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[2]
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Match rules
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See also
editNotes
edit- ^ a b The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.
- ^ Athletic's website claims they have met Real Madrid nine times,[19] but this includes the 1902 Copa de la Coronación final, the status of which is disputed both as a Copa del Rey event and as a tournament entered by their club.
- ^ Each team was given only three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.
References
edit- ^ a b "Leo Messi, MVP de la final: "Siento felicidad porque ha sido una Copa muy dura para nosotros"" [Leo Messi, MVP of the final: "I feel happy because it has been a very hard Copa for us".]. Royal Spanish Football Federation (in Spanish). 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "Juan Martínez Munuera, árbitro de la final de la Copa del Rey Athletic Club – FC Barcelona" [Juan Martínez Munuera, referee for the Copa del Rey final Athletic Club v FC Barcelona]. Royal Spanish Football Federation (in Spanish). 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
- ^ "Official: La Cartuja stadium in Seville to host Copa del Rey finals until 2023". as.com. AS. 5 February 2020. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
- ^ "The 2020 Copa del Rey final will be played on April 3 and the 2021 final on April 17". marca.com. Marca. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ "Lionel Messi scores twice as Barca win Copa del Rey final". BBC Sport. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ Lowe, Sid (17 April 2021). "Messi stars as Barcelona thrash Athletic Bilbao to lift Copa del Rey". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ "Cornellà 0-2 Barcelona, Copa del Rey: result, summary and goals". Marca. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Rayo Vallecano 1–2 Barcelona". BBC Sport. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Granada 3-5 Barcelona: Late drama as Barca win eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey semi-finals". Sky Sports. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Barcelona stun Sevilla with comeback to end awful week in Copa del Rey final". The Guardian. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Athletic Bilbao break more hearts with a last-minute victory at UD Ibiza". Football Espana. 21 February 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "Athletic Club through to Copa del Rey quarter-finals". athletic-club.eus. Athletic Bilbao. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "Athletic defeats Betis in shootout to reach Copa semifinals". USA Today. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "Levante 1–2 Athletic Bilbao". BBC Sport. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Spain - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ Bysouth, Alex (2 April 2021). "Athletic Bilbao: Basque club facing two Copa del Rey finals in two weeks". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ Lowe, Sid (3 April 2021). "Real Sociedad beat Athletic to claim Copa del Rey and Basque glory". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ^ The eight previous cup finals between FC Barcelona and Athletic Club, FC Barcelona, 14 April 2021
- ^ "Real Sociedad, our 16th different Copa final opponent". athletic-club.eus. Athletic Bilbao. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ Bell, Arch (17 January 2021). "Williams sinks Barcelona and Athletic claim the Supercopa". Marca. Retrieved 5 March 2021.