Key events
40 min: The former Leeds legend Raphinha is a constant threat down the Barcelona left. It’s a lovely balance they’ve got with him on that wing and Lamine Yamal on the right. Twisted blood for the overworked Real Madrid defenders and no mistake.
“No one’s out-physicalled him,” says whoever is on co-commentary for Premier Sports of Lamine Yamal. Has anyone ever out-physicalled you? How does it feel? “>Email me.
38 min: “My own description of the goal was ‘a cracker from Pedri’,” emails John. “Delivered to an eight-year-old Barça-mad Irish lad just returning home on a flight from Málaga right now. Honestly, some parents just don’t plan.”
“Well …” chips in Mark, who was planning to go to bed. “Glad I stayed up for THAT goal!!”
35 min: Bellingham scores! But he’s offside. A smart finish from the youngster but he knew straight away that he was off. Bellingham himself started that move, bringing the ball out of defence for Madrid.
34 min: This has gone by the form book so far. Barcelona are well, well on top. The referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, looks annoyed about something and gestures with both hands at … someone. Dunno what that was about. More news as we get it.
31 min: Tchouaméni hits Olmo with a reducer from behind, as his opponent looks to take a pass to feet in the middle of the park. Nasty tackle and it’s a yellow card. Maybe lucky it wasn’t a harsher punishment. Olmo needs treatment.
Goal! 28 min: Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid (Pedri)
What a hit! The ever-dangerous Lamine Yamal is released down the right flank, and he promptly cuts back and threads a lovely low ball to the edge of the penalty area. Pedri, running on to it in plenty of space, crafts a sensational first-time, right-footed finish that curls into the far corner, away from Courtois, and gives the goalkeeper absolutely no chance! That was art.
27 min: Vinícius powers out of defence with a diagonal run. But Lamine Yamal can match him for pace and nicks the ball off his toe before he can advance into the Barcelona half.
25 min: Carlo Ancelotti is booked. If the referee was hoping for a quiet night, it looks to be in vain.
23 min: England’s Jude Bellingham now makes a damaging run in behind the Barcelona back line and suddenly it’s the Catalans that are severely stretched. The ball is worked back for Garcia to have a shot from the edge of the box, that is blocked.
20 min: Close! Raphinha whips in a good set-piece from the Barcelona left. Koundé gets up and powers a header goalwards that is dropping in under the bar – Courtois tips it over. On the touchline, Carlo Ancelotti is not a happy man. His team are clearly second best at the moment.
18min: Lamine Yamal cuts in from that right wing and smacks a low left-footed shot that sneaks fractionally past Courtois’s far post! He’s the brightest spark on the field right now.
15min: Rodrygo dribbles into an advanced position for Real, on their right wing, but the move breaks down and Barça break at lightning-quick speed. Raphinha crosses for Ferran Torres and some desperate defending solves an urgent problem for Real Madrid.
12min: Lamine Yamal makes a bright run down the right for Barcelona. The score is nil-nil.
“I’d love to watch the game but a 10pm kick-off is getting a bit too near my bedtime,” emails Mark. “How do the players put up with it? It must be hard to be at your peak performance level so late in the day. Good night.
“P.S. Well, if the game is exciting enough I might be able to stay up for it…”
9 min: A few gremlins in the machine tonight, I’m afraid to report, and I’m unable to watch the live match. Rest assured I’ll keep you updated with all the key events though …
2min: Apologies, a few technical issues here, please bear with me.
First half kick-off!
Here we go.
“There are still no events for this match,” states the live page on the official Copa del Rey website. Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong.
So did Barney Ronay, in typically excellent fashion:
“Pick a card. Any card. No. Not that one. Wait. Keep your eyes on the ball. The glass. Hang on.”
Real Madrid were really not very good against Arsenal in the Champions League a couple of weeks back.
Sid Lowe reflected on their exit:
Teams
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé has to make do with a place on the bench while the 18-year-old wunderkind, Pau Cubarsí, starts for Barcelona.
Real Madrid: Courtois; Vázquez, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy; Tchouaméni, Ceballos, Valverde, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinícius. Substitutes: Lunin, Gonzalez, Alaba, Mbappé, Modric, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Garcia, Brahim Díaz.
Barcelona: Szczesny; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez, Martín; Pedri, De Jong, Olmo; Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Ferran Torres. Substitutes: Ter Stegen, Araujo, Gavi, Ansu Fati, Iñaki, Torre, Christensen, Fermin, Victor, Eric, Fort.
What a game this is shaping up to be, by the way.
Preamble
“Faced by rumours in the last few hours, we wish to communicate our team has never proposed renouncing playing the final,” Real Madrid said in a statement released late last night before this high-stakes encounter against Barcelona. “Our club understands that the unfortunate and inappropriate declarations made by the referees assigned to this game, 24 hours before the final, cannot stain a sporting event of global significance.”
Hardly a serene buildup, then, but here we are. Real’s confirmation that they would grace us with their presence capped a day of uncertainty on Friday after the appointed referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, spoke of repeated criticism aimed at him on Real Madrid’s TV channel and by the club’s fans. “When a child goes to school and people tell him his father is a thief, it’s messed up,” he said in a press conference.
Real Madrid consequently cancelled the pre-match pleasantries in protest, but we do have a game on, and it promises to be extra-spicy. Sid Lowe has the full story of that contentious buildup, and kick-off will be coming up at 9pm UK time.
Vamos!
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