Real Sociedad Win The Historic 2020 Copa Del Rey Final

REAL SOCIEDAD Win The Historic 2020 Copa Del Rey Final against Athletic Bilbao

Tonight, Saturday, April 3, saw a historic moment in the history of Spanish football as the final of the annual Copa del Rey competition took place in the La Cartucha stadium in Sevilla, except that it was the 2020 final, the one that was delayed from last year due to the pandemic.

This very high-profile clash featured two teams from the Basque region of Spain, who are massive rivals, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad, from San Sebastián, both from Spain’s top level of football, La Liga, with Athletic also in the 2021 final, which is being played in the same stadium in Sevilla, in two weeks time, versus Barcelona.

The victory went to Real Sociedad by a slim margin of 1-0, thanks to a penalty scored by their 23-year-old captain, Mikel Oyarzabal, remarkably, only one of two shots on target from either team during the whole match.

Real’s possession of the Spanish cup will bizarrely only last for two weeks, until this year’s final takes place and they must hand it over, but they will savour every second of it after not winning a trophy in 34 years, and in fact, only the fifth one in their long history.

The weather could not have been worse for this showpiece of Spanish football, as a storm broke minutes after kickoff, and rain lashed down, accompanied by thunder and lightning, with the loud crashes of thunder echoing inside the empty 60,000 seater stadium, after it was decided due to the pandemic that fans could not attend.

With the match all level at half time, the start of the second half produced some drama, as a Martínez handball in the first minute led to a long VAR check for a potential penalty, which was eventually deemed to have been outside the box, but then, a penalty did come.

Again it was Martínez, who seemed to clip the ankle of Portu, and referee Xavier Estrada Fernández pointed to the spot and pulled out a red card, which he changed to a yellow after another five-minute VAR check, and the penalty remained, which Oyarzabal converted, and with it, sealed the win for Real Sociedad, as reported by uk.sports.yahoo.com.