Football
Memorable moments: Bale taunted Bartra with a run off the pitch to win Real’s Copa del Rey
Champions League, then La Liga and then Copa del Rey. In this order, Real Madrid takes the importance of the competitions it enters very seriously and does not take the Spanish Cup very seriously. But in 2014, Gareth Bale made history in the final.
Champions League, then La Liga and then Copa del Rey. In this order, Real Madrid takes the importance of the competitions it enters very seriously and does not take the Spanish Cup very seriously. But in 2014, Gareth Bale made history in the final.
The year was 2014 and Carlo Ancelotti was sitting on the Real Madrid bench. The Italian coach had led Los Blancos to the Copa del Rey and Champions League finals.
La Liga was surprisingly won by Atlético Madrid, so Real Madrid faced their biggest rival, Barcelona, on a different field. In the Copa del Rey final.
The match was hosted at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia and Real were hit with some unpleasant news before the game. The team’s main star, Cristiano Ronaldo, was unavailable due to injury.
Ancelotti thus fielded an attack consisting of Bale – Benzema – Di María. And the Welsh-Argentine wingers took over Ronaldo’s role dutifully.
In fact, Di María opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Real led for a long time. But in the 68th minute, Marc Bartra equalised after a corner kick. He was a hero at that moment, but he had no idea what was to come.
In the 86th minute, Fabio Coentrao sent a pass down the left flank to Gareth Bale, who one-touched the ball in front of Bartra.
The Barcelona stopper pushed it out of the area, however, and the Welsh speedster, even with a stop behind the line, kicked the engines, outpaced Bartra, headed into the whitewash and stabbed the ball into the net between goalkeeper Pinto’s legs.
Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey thanks to this solo effort from Bale in the final minutes. Ironically, however, it was Los Blancos’ last trophy in this competition until the spring of 2023.
Real Madrid subsequently dominated the Champions League final as well, once again helping themselves in the final minutes. Against Atlético Madrid, Sergio Ramos took to the air at 92:48 to send the game into extra time, where Real added three more goals.
Source: Twitter
