The Barcelona team won the King's Cup tournament in Spain, after a dramatic battle with their great enemy Real Madrid won 3:2 after extra time.
Jules Cunde scored the precious goal in the 116th minute. Before that, in regular time it reached 2:2, and in the final seconds, an initially awarded penalty in favor of the Catalans was canceled. The arena of the final was "La Cartuja" in Seville.
Barcelona completely dominated the first half and Pedri scored an impressive goal in the 28th minute. In the second half, however, the roles were reversed and the "kings" went wild and deservedly turned the tables through Kylian Mbappe (70') and Aurelien Chouameny (77'). However, a goal by Ferran Torres (84') brought another draw, sending the match into added 30 minutes.
This is the third consecutive success for Hansi Flick's team over Carlo Ancelotti's this season after 4:0 for the championship and 5:2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in January. The show with the brand “El Clasico” is not over, because in two weeks (May 11) we expect another duel in La Liga.
The refereeing, which was talked about the most in the days before the final in Seville, also gave rise to a lot of discussion. The Catalans had claims for four penalties, but did not receive a single one. Along with the one canceled at the end of regular time, they requested ones for Valverde's handball, for Ceballos's holding of Martin, as well as for Rüdiger's foul on Ferran Torres. In the end, Rüdiger lost his composure and received a red card, although he had already been sent off. Lucas Vázquez also ended up with a red card.
In total, this is a record 32nd cup for Barça. In this ranking, Real is not even second, but third with 20 trophies, behind Athletic Bilbao (24).
There were no surprises among the selections of the Catalan coach Hansi Flick. Young Gerard Martin played on the left of the defense, and Rafinha returned to the starting 11. The predictions for the starters of the “Kings” were justified, as Kylian Mbappe started on the bench, but was put into the game at the start of the second half.
The opening minutes were better for the Barcelona players. However, the dynamic start of the match was disrupted by an injury to Ferland Mendy, who had to be substituted in the 11th minute.
In the 16th minute, Barça created the most serious situation to date, but Ferran Torres failed to intercept Rafinha's pass in the penalty area. In this case, the ball also bounced off the hand of the fallen Federico Valverde, but referee De Burgos Bongoechea decided that it was not a penalty.
In the 19th minute, Real had a chance after a cunning diagonal shot by Yamal, which ultimately went out of bounds.
Two minutes later, Thibaut Courtois showed class, deflecting a shot by Kunde with his head.
A foul against Yamal and a handball by Pedri raised the tension, and surprisingly Carlo Ancelotti succumbed to it, who asked for a foul for Real, but received a yellow card.
Barcelona took the lead in the score in the 28th minute after a masterful long-range shot by Pedri.
Almost immediately after the goal, Aurelien Chuameni fouled Dani Olmo roughly and almost injured him. The midfielder was officially cautioned for this action.
Amidst his dejected teammates, Bellingham showed confidence in the 35th minute when he launched an attack from his own half, and in the end even sent the ball into Szczesny's net. However, the goal for Real was disallowed due to the Englishman being offside.
Luck was with Real Madrid in the 43rd minute, when after a cross from a corner, Rudiger deflected the ball and it bounced off the side post of Courtois' goal. In this situation, Barca had claims for a penalty for holding Martin by Ceballos.
At the end of the half, there was a scuffle between Ceballos and Yamal, in which the Real player reached out and lightly grabbed the teenager's face, but nothing followed.
The losing Vinny Junior only showed up in added time, when he was tripped in the penalty area by Inigo Martinez and the referee pointed to the white spot. However, the referee changed this in a second, marking the striker's offside.
Ancelotti resorted to a change at half-time, bringing on Mbappe instead of Rodrygo. This part began with several shots by the Catalans, but in the 49th minute a "golden chance" came for Real. Then Szczesny twice saved Vinicius' shots.
Barcelona missed a chance for a second goal in the 55th minute, when three of Hansi Flick's players came out against only two of the opponent's field players, but did nothing.
Minutes later, Szczesny brilliantly intervened with a pass, again in a situation against Vinicius.
Real continued to be the more dangerous team after the break and in the 68th minute, after a mistake by Pedri, a situation arose in which Mbappe rushed towards the Barca goal, but De Jong stopped him with his hand. The Dutchman received a yellow card, although the capital's players insisted on a red card. The referee explained that the striker was not in a situation alone against the goalkeeper. However, Real quickly abandoned their claims, as Mbappe scored from the assigned free kick to make it 1:1.
Real could have even taken the lead by one point, after Vinicius stormed down the left wing in the 73rd minute and passed to Mbappe, but he was unable to finish with a goal kick.
Yet the team from the "Bernabeu" reached the second goal - in the 77th, when Chuameni headed it in.
Only then did the Barcelona team wake up and start playing in the familiar way. Yamal made an excellent shot in the 82nd, but Courtois cleared it.
However, the roles were reversed two minutes later. Then Yamal made another wonderful pass - this time to Ferran, and the Real goalkeeper made a mistake with his exit and in the end the score became 2:2.
The most dramatic moment in regular time came in the last seconds of the added 6 minutes. Then Rafinha entered the Real penalty area and fell there after a duel with Raul Asensio. Ricardo de Burgos pointed to the white spot. However, a review by VAR followed, from where he was advised to watch a replay. After doing so, the referee cancelled the penalty and gave Rafinha a yellow card, considering it to be a simulation.
Extra time followed. At the end of the first one, Ferran narrowly missed scoring another goal for Barcelona. Later, Fermin Lopez and Bellingham also had chances.
So came the 116th minute, in which Kunde intercepted a pass from Modric to Braim Diaz, then scored with a precise shot to make it 3:2 in favor of Barca.
Real immediately went to equalize and in the 118th, Mbappe fell after an intervention by Gavi, in which the referee awarded a penalty kick. However, DeBurgos quickly changed his decision, because it turned out that earlier in the attack of the "whites" there was an offside.
In the final seconds, when Real's last chance for an equalizer was lost, Rüdiger, who was already on the bench, threw a bottle at the referee and was ready to attack him, for which he received a red card.