Real Madrid’s strange Copa del Rey relationship – and a chance to ease the pain

Two great moments of celebration stand out in Real Madrid’s unusually mixed recent history with the Copa del Rey.

In the 2011 final, Cristiano Ronaldo’s majestic leap and powerful header saw Jose Mourinho’s team crowned winners at the expense of their great rivals Barcelona after extra time.

In 2014, Gareth Bale’s spectacular solo goal sealed victory over Barca again, earning Carlo Ancelotti his first title as Madrid coach in the process.

But you might be surprised to learn that these triumphs represent the only two times Real Madrid have won Spain’s national cup in the past 30 years.

For a club that takes success so seriously, it’s not a particularly impressive return. In that same period, they have claimed the Champions League eight times.

Madrid have won the Champions League/European Cup 14 times in total. They’ve won La Liga on 35 occasions. Both of those totals represent competition records — and leave them comfortably clear of the teams behind them. AC Milan have lifted seven Champions League/European Cup trophies and Barcelona have won the Spanish league 26 times.

💥 Never forget.
🏃 @GarethBale11
🆚 @FCBarcelona
📅 16/04/2014 #RealFootball | #OTD pic.twitter.com/2MO6YkTT9k

— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) April 16, 2023

The Copa del Rey is a different story, though. Real Madrid have 19 trophies, which leaves them third in the all-time list behind Barcelona (31) and Athletic Bilbao (23).

Speak to people who know Real Madrid well, and the suggestion is that it all comes down to priorities.

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“In this club, the Copa del Rey has never been thrown away, but if Madrid is the one with the most La Liga and Champions League titles, it’s because of the right order of priorities,” says a Real Madrid director — who, like others in this piece, preferred to speak to The Athletic anonymously to protect their position.

The director does not feel there’s a simple “single explanation” for Madrid’s comparative lack of success in the competition, and that’s probably right. But they also admit there’s a compelling case for branding Madrid as “not very ‘copero’ (geared towards success in the cup)”.

Because it’s not just that Madrid haven’t managed to win the trophy as often as you might expect. It goes further than that.

In the Copa del Rey, Madrid have suffered the most embarrassing and painful results in their history.

Let’s first head back to 2002.

Lionel Scaloni, now Argentina manager, celebrates Deportivo’s 2002 Copa del Rey final victory over Madrid (Photo: Francisco Paso/AFP via Getty Images)

That year, as Real Madrid celebrated their centenary, Vicente del Bosque’s side played the final at their home stadium, with Deportivo La Coruna their opponents.

Deportivo spoiled the party by winning 2-1, and legend has it that the Galician club even swooped in to take up Madrid’s post-match party reservation at a local restaurant where the celebratory drinks had already been put on ice.

At the end of that season, Zinedine Zidane’s unforgettable volley sealed another Champions League trophy for Del Bosque and his team, who beat Bayer Leverkusen in the final in Glasgow. But the Depor defeat hurt — and there was more pain to come.

The following season, Madrid were knocked out by Mallorca in the quarter-finals, losing 5-1 on aggregate. Then in 2004, they lost another final they were expected to win, this time against Real Zaragoza.

It would be another seven years before they reached the final again. But before then, there were two true disasters.

In 2008-09, Madrid were knocked out in the round of 32, the stage they entered the competition. They lost to Real Union de Irun, who were playing in Spain’s third tier at the time. Having lost the away leg 3-2 and won the home leg 4-3, a 6-6 draw on aggregate saw Bernd Schuster’s side exit on the away goals rule.

The following season was even worse: a strong Madrid side that featured Raul, Guti, Karim Benzema and Rafael van der Vaart was hammered 4-0 away at Alcorcon, another third-division team. Only managing to win the home leg 1-0, they crashed out.

Real Madrid, with Kaka in their side, went out 4-1 on aggregate to Alcorcon (Photo: Elisa Estrada/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

That 4-0 defeat in the October — referred to since as the “Alcorconazo” — ended up costing Manuel Pellegrini his job at the end of the season, with the Chilean unable to recover from the embarrassment.

If the loss could be considered one of the most humiliating in Madrid’s history, their 2015-16 Copa del Rey exit has to go down as the most unusual.

In December, Madrid travelled to Cadiz to play the first leg of their round of 32 tie. On the night, Rafa Benitez’s side won 3-1, but even as the game was progressing it was clear there was something wrong.

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It would later turn out that Madrid’s Denis Cheryshev was fielded when he ought not to have been, due to a suspension for three bookings he had picked up on loan at Villarreal the previous season.

Cheryshev scored the opening goal in the game’s third minute but, shortly after, the realisation that he should not have been on the pitch began to spread through the stands. The home fans sang: “Benitez, look at Twitter”, “Cheryshev, you can’t play”, “Cheryshev, we love you” and “Benitez stay”.

Two days later, Madrid’s fate was confirmed when they were kicked out of the competition by the Spanish Football Federation. A month later, Benitez was sacked by Madrid.

His replacement was Zidane, who is most closely associated with great success in Europe. Under the Frenchman, Madrid won the Champions League three times in a row, starting from that 2015-16 campaign.

But even he would not be spared suffering in this competition.

In January 2021, during Zidane’s second spell in charge, Madrid were again knocked out by a third-tier side in the round of 32, losing 2-1 to Alcoyano. Once again, Madrid played a strong team: Vinicius Junior, Casemiro, Federico Valverde, Marcelo and Eder Militao all started.

Zidane after his Madrid were beaten at third-tier Alcoyano in January 2021 (Photo: Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

The defeat gave rise to numerous criticisms and doubts surrounding Zidane, who would end up leaving at the end of that trophyless season — the first time Madrid had done so since 2009–10.

For all of these reasons, Ancelotti will be aware of the importance of Saturday’s final against Osasuna, especially in the context of questions about his own future. It should come as no surprise that arriving home without the trophy would not go down well in Madrid.

''Vamos a jugar la final de Copa''. Ancelotti 🤝 Jagoba. #ElDíaDespués pic.twitter.com/lR1BVyVTEq

— Fútbol en Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) February 20, 2023

But within the club, there is at least a recognition that, this year, reaching the final represents an achievement in itself.

“This Copa has a very great value because Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have been eliminated on the way,” a club source says.

With Barca set to claim the La Liga title, winning the Copa del Rey and the Champions League would greatly strengthen Ancelotti’s standing.

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Despite just 72 hours separating Saturday’s final in Seville and Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at home to Manchester City, the Italian is expected to field his best XI, and plans have already been made to stay in Seville on Saturday night in order to maximise recovery. The late kick-off — 10pm local time — doesn’t help much on that front.

But if Madrid’s players end up making the journey back home on Sunday with a 20th Copa del Rey trophy in tow, it would surely serve as a big boost before the competition they really want — and one that, strangely, they’ve had less trouble winning.

(Top photo: Getty Images; Pierre-Philippe Marcou, Denis Doyle, Quality Sport Images. Design: Eamonn Dalton)