Nine years without winning a Copa del Rey, while ruling with an iron fist in Europe, have served to articulate a paradox at Real Madrid that will be unveiled this Saturday at Seville’s La Cartuja stadium: the whites have the same team in their number of five-time champions in the highest continental league then winners in the Spanish KO tournament Nacho, Carvajal, Modric and Benzema are the only disciples of Carlo Ancelotti to survive from that team that defeated Barça in Mestalla on May 16, 2014 with that Gareth Bale’s unforgettable goal that started to build the legend in Chamartín del Expreso de Cardiff. The Welshman’s goal on the 85th minute cemented victory for a team who had taken the lead through Ángel Di María in the first half, but saw Marc Bartra tie the game midway through the second period. Iker Casillas lifted a trophy in Valencia that served as a prelude to La Decima, which was secured a month later in Lisbon by Chamartín’s team, again with the Mostola goalkeeper who lifted the title, the former player of Tottenham as a leading figure and Ancelotti leading the troops with a steady hand. It was the nineteenth time that Real Madrid put its name on the list of winners of the Copa del Rey. And the last so far. The whites, crowned only once in the 1990s – against Zaragoza in 1993, also in Valencia – went eighteen years without reign until Cristiano Ronaldo put Pep Guardiola’s Barça on the ground with a goal on April 20, 2011 with a goal in the extension of the game in Mestalla that established José Mourinho’s project as the capital’s mate and marked the first Copa del Rey for Benzema. Two years later, they lost the chance to reach the second dozen donors when they fell at the Santiago Bernabéu to an Atlético who had been armored in goal by Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian goalkeeper is thus the fifth Ancelotti pupil to have tasted the sweetness of the Copa del Rey. However, the current Yashin Trophy winner took much longer to reach the top of the Champions League. After watching his now teammates Carvajal, Nacho, Modric and Benzema win for the first time at the Estádio da Luz after Sergio Ramos headed him seconds after the rojiblanco ecstasy, Courtois pursued glory with Chelsea with no luck before he went to the “good side of history” and established himself as the hero of the fourteenth with nine stratospheric stops in the final against Liverpool, which hosted the Stade de France. Like Lunin, Militao, Mendy, Camavinga, Valverde, Hazard, Vinicius and Rodrygo, the Genk goalkeeper linked his figure to the myth of Real Madrid in the European Cup, with a long list of footballers still wearing the white jacket, led by Carvajal, Nacho, Modric and Benzema. still current members of a golden generation that took five ‘orejonas’ between 2014 and 2022. Present in the wonder of Lisbon, they continued to polish their legend in Milan (2016), Cardiff (2017) and Kiev (2018), also decisive for the king of Europe to regain his crown in Paris last year. Pending release To these four five-time champions of the Old Continent with Real Madrid, we must add the figure of Toni Kroos, who landed in the Spanish capital less than two months after the whites inherited the laurels in the Champions League that Greisfswald’s metronome the year before with Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium. The former GDR-born midfielder played a key role in the treble the Bavarians completed under Jupp Heynckes before becoming one of the most profitable signings in Real Madrid’s history and a vital piece to help end the last era of gold for the whites. to understand. in their fetish competition. Among his soldiers, Ancelotti also has a four-time European champion (Lucas Vázquez), two three-time champions (Asensio and Alaba, who added another crown in Paris with Real Madrid to the two he won with Bayern) and three two-time champions (Vallejo, Ceballos and Mariano). Rüdiger also knows what it’s like to sit on the continental throne with his buttocks, which he did with Chelsea in 2021, making Tchouaméni the only Real Madrid footballer who has not yet touched the ‘orejona’. On the other hand, Ancelotti has eighteen players who are thirsty for the Copa del Rey. Lunin, Militao, Alaba (he won six Cups in Germany), Vallejo, Odriozola (he won one in Germany), Lucas Vázquez, Rüdiger (he won one in England), Mendy, Kroos (he won three in Germany) , Camavinga, Valverde, Tchouaméni, Ceballos (he won one in England), Hazard (he cherished one in England and another in France), Asensio, Vinicius, Rodrygo and Mariano have the chance to make some truly remarkable awards, where, however, remains a pending topic. The same one that Real Madrid has not approved since 2014.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
