With Cristiano Ronaldo unable to play in the Copa del Rey final due to injury, Gareth Bale,
one of the most expensive footballers in the world, stepped up and
scored a later winner for Real Madrid with a tremendous burst of speed.
And he did it against Barcelona, no less.
Angel Di Maria opened the
scoring in the 11th minute for Real Madrid and the lead held into the
second half. Marc Bartra did come up with an equalizer for Barca in the
68th minute, but his night would soon get much, much worse.
In the 88th minute, Bale knocked
the ball out in front of himself as he battled with Bartra near the
touchline. The Barca defender forced Bale off the pitch, but this
prompted the Welshman to turn on his exceptional speed, making Bartra
look like he was running in sand as Bale beat him to the ball and scored
the winner. Cristiano Ronaldo partied in the stands like every other
Madridista watching and the Barcelona fans made their feelings known by
giving Bale the finger as he celebrated with his back to them.
I know that guy!
With that goal, Real Madrid
sealed a 2-1 victory and gave Barcelona their first three-match losing
streak since 2003. This also marks Real Madrid's first Copa del Rey
title since Sergio Ramos dropped the trophy under the team bus in 2011.
And to top it all off, Bale also gave the club the first return on the
€90 million-plus ($124 million) spent to acquire him from Tottenham over
the summer.
For Barcelona, this ended the
club's best chance at winning a trophy this season after getting knocked
out of the Champions League and suffering a big loss in La Liga in
their previous two matches. It's been a frustrating, injury filled
campaign for Lionel Messi and manager Tata Martino seems increasingly
likely to be let go after just one season.
Of course, Real Madrid didn't
win anything last season before parting ways with Jose Mourinho and now
they're in contention for the treble with one trophy already in the
cabinet and a Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich on the
horizon. So while things are looking bleak for Barcelona right now, Real
Madrid are proving that fortunes can change very quick. For a price.
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