Author – Amrit Santlani
Real Madrid beat Osasuna 2-1 at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville on Saturday night to win their 20th Copa del Rey title. Lucas Torro pulled one back for Los Rojillos, but the Brazilian duo of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo helped Carlo Ancelotti’s side win their first major trophy of the season.
Real Madrid started the game on the front foot, with Rodrygo scoring the second fastest goal in the history of Copa del Rey finals. The Brazilian combined with Vinicius Junior, whose sublime individual skill helped open the scoring. Vinicius received a pass from Eduardo Camaviga, the speedy winger skipped past two defenders near the end line before cutting back to Rodrygo, whose first-time shot took a deflection off Juan Cruz, but the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Vinicius was proving to be a problem for Jon Moncayola, as the Osasuna right-back received a yellow card in the 20th minute for stopping the Brazilian before he could start a counter-attack. Shortly afterwards, the 22-year-old winger once again set off down the left wing, beating Moncayola with his speed as he ran towards goal, attempting a pass from outside the area to Rodrygo, who, instead of finishing first time as he had done previously, made the pass to Karim Benzema, but the Frenchman’s attempt was well saved by Sergio Herrera.
At the other end, Abde Ezzalzouli almost gave Carlo Ancelotti a scare, but Dani Carvajal was on hand to save his team. Abde received a pass from his teammate and was being chased by Éder Militão. The Brazilian defender lost his balance and went down, allowing the Barcelona loanee the chance to beat Thibaut Courtois one-on-one. The Moroccan opted to dribble past the madridista goalkeeper, but missed his shot and the ball was cleared off the line by Carvajal.
David Alaba then hit the crossbar after a free-kick in Real Madrid’s favor. The Austrian’s shot hit Herrera’s goal, but he could only hit the post. The score remained 1-0 when the referee blew for half-time, although the end of the period was ugly as players from both teams had to be separated as they left the tunnel, with Vinicius in particular showing a lot of anger, both on and off the pitch.
Ancelotti’s half-time team talk calmed the youngster down, but soon after the restart Osasuna levelled the score with a fine half-volley from Lucas Torro. The midfielder was deftly beaten by a cut-back from Abde, and the former shot first time, but Courtois was unable to stop it.
Madrid didn’t trail for long, however, as Vinicius was at the heart of the action once again, playing a key role in his team’s second goal. The Brazilian ran at Atlético’s defense, and the defenders couldn’t get rid of their lines properly. Toni Kross tried to shoot the ball into the back of the net, but it was deflected by a defender and fell kindly at the feet of Rodrygo, who hit it first time to complete his brace.
Ancelotti’s side were back in front, and the Italian opted to freshen things up a bit by putting Antonio Rudiger and Marco Asensio on the pitch. The Spaniard showed great vision when he made a sublime pass to Vinícius shortly after coming on the pitch, but instead of trying to beat Herrera, the ex-Flamengo player decided to cut back to Benzema; the pass wasn’t quite right, and Club Atlético Osasuna were eliminated.