Copa del Rey national derby: Barcelona win the trophy, Real Madrid loses everything

The reporter reported coldly In the early morning of April 27, at the La Catuja Stadium in Seville, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-2 in extra time, winning the Spanish Copa del Rey for the 32nd time in team history, defending the honor of "King of the Spanish Cup". It was the eighth Copa del Rey final since 1936, with Real Madrid and Barcelona winning four times each. However, this season, Barcelona has the absolute upper hand in La Liga, the Spanish Super Cup final and the Copa del Rey final.

The game was full of ups and downs, with Pedri opening the scoring in the 28th minute of the first half, Mbappe equalising with a free-kick hitting the left post in the 70th minute of the second half, and Tchouameni heading back seven minutes later. In the 84th minute, Courtois made a mistake and Barcelona winger Forlan easily pushed the empty goal to score. In the 116th minute of extra time, Barcelona central defender Jules Kounde grabbed a long-range shot to seal the win. In the third minute of extra time, Rudiger, who had been substituted, was whistled for a foul for protesting Mbappe's breakthrough, threw ice cubes into the field, and then rushed to the referee and was hugged by his teammates, and continued to try to throw ice at the referee after receiving a red card. Vazquez entered the stadium to protest against the referee, and Bellingham walked towards the referee in an aggressive manner after the game to stop his teammates, and all three received red cards for attempting to attack the referee.

While Spain's 'national derby' has always been intense, red and yellow cards and controversy, this Copa del Rey final is extra special. After the game, even the "AS" newspaper, which has always been pro-Real Madrid, typed the headline "Barcelona wins, football wins", which not only shows that Barcelona won from the content of the game to the result, but also implies that Real Madrid's off-the-field actions against the referee before the game are a complete failure.

The national derby, which originally excited fans, suddenly "challenged" the referee before the game, and the farce of the referee and Real Madrid threatening to withdraw replaced the game itself, and the "noisy" became the protagonist of the Copa del Rey final. The public opinion turmoil began with Real Madrid TV's long-term pre-match production of highlights of the referee's previous decisions against Real Madrid, and this time is no exception. Real Madrid TV produced a five-minute "Misjudgment Highlights", listing referee de Burgos's previous controversial decisions against Real Madrid.

The Spanish media and fans were accustomed to Real Madrid TV's pre-match operations, but this time referee De Burgos and VAR referee Fuentes opted for a frontal hard bar. At a press conference on Friday, De Burgos accused Real Madrid TV of hurting his family, especially his children, for his "miscalculations"; VAR referee Fuentes emphasized that Real Madrid's move triggered social media cyberviolence against the referee, which will eventually hurt the entire refereeing community. Fuentes stressed that the referee community will take a more aggressive approach in response to irresponsible attacks. In fact, there have been rumors of strikes in Spanish refereeing circles before this season.

What is shocking is that Real Madrid issued an official statement after the referee's press conference to protest the referee's hostility, prejudice, threats and attacks on Real Madrid, which is an unprecedented official "response" to the referee before the match. Spanish media rumors that Real Madrid asked to change the referee or they would boycott the game, but the Spanish Football Federation will not compromise and resolutely refuse to change. Real Madrid then boycotted all official pre-match events, including pre-match press conferences, on-pitch training, pre-match photos of the coaches and the tradition of the president of Real Madrid attending the Football Association dinner, pushing the farce to an embarrassing peak.

In view of the fact that Real Madrid had temporarily boycotted the Ballon d'Or ceremony, the Spanish media reported that Real Madrid was likely to choose to boycott the game. But in the end, Real Madrid took the lead in stating that it would not withdraw from the game, and the president of the Spanish Football Federation, Lausanne, also took a step back, emphasizing that Real Madrid did not ask for a change of referee. But Real Madrid's outrageous farce this time has triggered a bigger storm of public opinion. Atletico Madrid's official media directly protested against "don't tarnish the image of Spanish football anymore", and Celta FC even took the initiative to "ask for a fight" to replace Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. Tebas, president of the Spanish professional league, also fiercely criticized Real Madrid's behavior on social media.

Back to the game itself, referee De Burgos and the VAR referee team made a number of major decisions, which did not go against Real Madrid. In the second minute of stoppage time in the first half, Vinicius was brought down with a one-handed goal, and the referee awarded a penalty at the first time, and the assistant referee raised the flag to signal offside. In the 6th minute of stoppage time in the second half, Barcelona winger Raphini fell in the penalty area, and the referee awarded a penalty kick at the first time. As for the stoppage time of extra time, Real Madrid defenders Rudiger and Vazquez, who had been replaced, and Bellingham, who rushed to the referee after the game, were also justified in incurring red cards for the referee's words and actions.

Even, Barcelona was the "loser" in this game: the TV camera captured Ceballos escaping punishment with a hand in Yamal's face, and Real Madrid defender Carvajal on the bench was also not punished for exploding foul language at the referee; In the game, for example, in the 16th minute, Valverde fell to the ground in the penalty area and cleared the ball, and his support hand touched the ball, and Cubasi and Forlan were successively brought down by Real Madrid players in the penalty area, and the referee did not say that it also caused controversy. To some extent, Real Madrid's pre-match actions did achieve the purpose of pressuring the referee, but even so, they still could not avoid the embarrassing continuation of being killed by their opponents 3 times in a single season and conceding 12 goals in 3 games.

Spanish media revealed that before the game, the Spanish referee considered striking due to Real Madrid's targeted behavior, but was stopped by the Spanish Football Federation. After the game, Barcelona's official social media and famous Pique all made remarks mocking Real Madrid. Spanish media revealed that Real Madrid will also issue an announcement to continue to appeal against the referee's misjudgment in this match. A world-renowned Spanish national derby, the game should have been the focus of everyone's attention, but the controversy between Real Madrid and the referee before and after the game became the protagonist, which is really embarrassing.