2015 Copa del Rey final
Event | 2014–15 Copa del Rey | ||||||
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Date | 30 May 2015 | ||||||
Venue | Camp Nou, Barcelona | ||||||
Man of the Match | Lionel Messi (Barcelona)[1][2] | ||||||
Referee | Carlos Velasco Carballo | ||||||
Attendance | 99,354 | ||||||
The 2015 Copa del Rey final was an association football match on 30 May 2015 to decide the winner of the 2014–15 Copa del Rey, the 113th edition of Spain's premier football cup since its establishment (including two seasons where two rival editions were played).
It was played between
Messi's first goal, in which he ran past a number of opponents, was the runner-up in the
Venue
Before the semi-final second leg, Barcelona's board requested the final be held at the
On 25 March, the RFEF confirmed that it would be held at Barcelona's Camp Nou.[4] Real Madrid refused to let the final be played at their stadium, and the Camp Nou was chosen at an RFEF meeting ahead of the San Mamés, with Sevilla's Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium and Valencia's Mestalla Stadium eliminated in an earlier round of voting.[5]
Background
Barcelona had previously played 36 Copa del Rey Finals, a record bettered only by Real Madrid with 39.
Athletic Bilbao had previously played in 35 finals, winning 23, with only Barcelona winning more.
Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao had played each other in seven previous finals of the tournament. Barcelona won
The two teams played each other twice during the 2014–15 La Liga season. In the first instance, at the Camp Nou on 13 September 2014, Barcelona won 2–0 with two goals from Neymar in the last 11 minutes of the game.[7] On 8 February 2015 at Athletic Bilbao's San Mamés Stadium, Barcelona won 5–2. Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez gave them a 2–0 half-time lead. Four goals came between the 59th and 66th minutes: Mikel Rico scored for Athletic, his teammate Óscar de Marcos scored an own goal, Neymar achieved a fourth for Barcelona and Aritz Aduriz a second for Athletic. Later on in the game, Xabier Etxeita was sent off for the hosts and Pedro netted a fifth for the visitors.[8]
The final was jeopardised due to a dispute over the sharing of television revenue between Spanish clubs, with all football in the country due to be suspended from 16 May.
Route to the final
Athletic Bilbao | Round | Barcelona | ||||
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Opponent | Result | Legs | Opponent | Result | Legs | |
Alcoyano | 2–1 | 1–1 away; 1–0 home | Round of 32 | Huesca | 12–1 | 0–4 away; 8–1 home |
Celta Vigo | 4–4 | 2–4 away; 0–2 home | Round of 16 | Elche | 9–0 | 5–0 home; 0–4 away |
Málaga | 1–0 | 0–0 away; 1–0 home | Quarter-finals | Atlético Madrid | 4–2 | 1–0 home; 2–3 away |
Espanyol | 3–1 | 1–1 home; 0–2 away | Semi-finals | Villarreal | 6–2 | 3–1 home; 1–3 away |
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao, of
In the last 16, the club faced top-flight club
Athletic's quarter-final began on 21 January with a goalless draw at the
Barcelona
Barcelona, also of La Liga, entered the tournament in the last 32 against a Segunda División B club,
In the last 16, Barcelona met top-flight opposition in the shape of
On 21 January, Barcelona hosted the first leg of the quarter-finals, and defeated Atlético Madrid 1–0. Sergio Busquets was fouled, giving Barcelona a late penalty. Messi took it and it was saved by Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak, but Messi scored the rebound.[22] A week later at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, the hosts made the aggregate score level in the first minute through Fernando Torres; in the ninth minute, Neymar put Barcelona back into the lead. When Javier Mascherano fouled Juanfran, Raúl García's penalty gave the advantage back to Atlético, but Barcelona scored two more goals in the first half from a Miranda own goal and Neymar to win 4–2 on aggregate. Atlético captain Gabi was sent off at half time for arguing with the referee, and his midfield partner Mario Suárez was also dismissed later on.[23]
Barcelona hosted the first leg of their semi-final on 11 February, and defeated
Match
Summary
Athletic kicked the game off, and had an opportunity after five minutes, when Mikel Rico crossed for Aduriz, but he was prevented from making contact with the ball by Jordi Alba. Five minutes later, Barcelona launched a counter-attack starting with goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and ending with Neymar volleying the ball into the goal, but it was ruled out for offside. Soon after, Iago Herrerín saved from Messi. In the 20th minute, Messi scored the first goal of the game, taking possession on the right-hand side of the pitch and beating four defenders before finishing with a near-post shot. Barcelona had more chances after this, with Herrerín making saves from Neymar. In the 36th minute, Neymar scored the second goal of the game, finishing from close range when set up by Suárez, after earlier work by Messi and Rakitić. Near the end of the first half, Andoni Iraola set up Iñaki Williams, whose volley missed the target. Piqué and Iraola received yellow cards at the end of the first half, for fouls on Aduriz and Suárez respectively.[26][27]
Ten minutes into the second half, Andrés Iniesta was substituted for Xavi, who took over as captain for his 766th Barcelona appearance, and last one at the Camp Nou. Soon after, Athletic substituted Iraola in his final match, replacing him with Susaeta, while Mikel Balenziaga was booked for his foul on Messi. In the 74th minute, Dani Alves co-operated with Neymar before setting up Messi to put Barcelona 3–0 up. Six minutes later, Athletic gained a consolation goal from Williams' header. In the closing stages of the game, Neymar showboated around opposition players, and was pushed over by Unai Bustinza, starting a melée between both sets of players. After play restarted, Neymar received a yellow card for fouling Balenziaga. In added time Susaeta fouled Neymar, and Busquets was booked afterwards for dissent; the foul earned a free kick from which Xavi hit the post.[26]
Details
Athletic Bilbao
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Barcelona
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Post-match
The conduct of Neymar, who performed tricks with the ball in the closing stages of Barcelona's victory, was a talking point after the match. His opponent Iraola decried Neymar, saying that his actions were unsporting, while Barcelona manager Luis Enrique said that Neymar's actions were common in Brazil, even though frowned upon in Spain, and would have to change. However, Neymar himself did not apologise and said that he would repeat his behaviour in the future.[28]
In July 2015, the Spanish Sports Council levied fines against both clubs and the RFEF, with all three entities deemed to have taken insufficient action against security breaches and planned protests of
Lionel Messi's first goal was nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award at the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or. It finished as runner-up to a bicycle kick by Wendell Lira for Goianésia in the Brazilian third division.[30]
Barcelona had already won La Liga, and concluded their
As Barcelona won both domestic tournaments, Athletic were the cup entrants in the 2015 Supercopa de España, in which they defeated Barcelona 5–1 on aggregate for their first trophy since their double in 1983–84.[32] Athletic also entered the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, but their status as beaten cup finalists no longer granted a place (unlike the seasons following their losses to UEFA Champions League-qualified Barcelona in 2009 and 2012) as the rules were changed from 2015 onwards;[33] instead they qualified via their 7th-place league finish.
See also
References
- ^ "Treble comes into focus as Messi marches Barcelona to Copa title". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ^ "Lionel Messi stars as Barcelona win Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao". Eurosport. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ^ a b c "Barcelona want Copa del Rey final to be played at Santiago Bernabeu". Sport. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ a b "Camp Nou to host Barca-Bilbao Copa del Rey final". FourFourTwo. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- ^ a b "Copa del Rey: Nou Camp to host Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao". BBC Sport. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Spain - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Barcelona 2 Athletic Bilbao 0". Sky Sports News. 13 September 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Jurejko, Jonathan (8 February 2015). "Ath Bilbao 2-5 Barcelona". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ West, Andy (7 May 2015). "Spanish football suspended: Is the season really over?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
- ^ "La Liga strike called off: Barcelona can now win title". BBC Sport. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ Malagón, Manuel (2 December 2014). "Viguera acaba con el sofoco". Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ "De nuevo Viguera" [Viguera again]. Marca (in Spanish). 18 December 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Campos, Tomás (6 January 2015). "Carbón para el Celta y oro para el Athletic" [Coal for Celta and gold for Athletic]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Ramos, Antonio S. (16 January 2015). "Con más pena que gloria" [With more pain than glory]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Egea, Pablo (28 January 2015). "El Athletic, como en los viejos tiempos" [Athletic, like they were in the olden days]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Melero, Delfín (11 February 2015). "El Espanyol deja escapar al león" [Espanyol let the lion out]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Melero, Delfín (4 March 2015). "Como manda la tradición" [As tradition commands]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ "Huesca 0-4 Barcelona: Iniesta and Rakitic inspire emphatic first-leg win". Goal.com. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Barcelona 8-1 Huesca". BBC Sport. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Barcelona 5-0 Elche". BBC Sport. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Elche 0-4 Barcelona (0-9 on agg.): Mathieu stunner seals emphatic Copa del Rey triumph". Goal.com. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ Hall, Pete (21 January 2015). "Copa del Rey: Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid as Lionel Messi scores late on at Nou Camp". Sky Sports News. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Atletico Madrid 2-3 Barcelona (agg 2-4): Neymar shoots down nine-man Rojiblancos in Copa cracker". Goal.com. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Barcelona 3-1 Villarreal: Messi and Iniesta seal first-leg advantage". Goal.com. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ "Villarreal 1-3 Barcelona". BBC Sport. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ a b Smith, Alan (30 May 2015). "Athletic Bilbao 1-3 Barcelona: Copa del Rey final – as it happened!". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ "LIVE COMMENTARY". Goal.com. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
- ^ "Iraola: Neymar 'rainbow' unsporting". Four Four Two. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
- ^ García, Adriana (28 July 2015). "Barcelona, Athletic and RFEF face fines over Copa del Rey final". ESPN. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- TheGuardian.com. 20 July 2018.
- ^ Saffer, Paul (6 June 2015). "Barcelona break new ground with second treble". UEFA. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ^ Hautmann, Thomas (18 August 2015). "ATHLETIC BILBAO FANS FLOOD THE STREETS TO CELEBRATE SUPERCOPA". Fox Soccer. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ^ "Strategic talks in Dubrovnik". UEFA.org. 20 September 2013.