The largest Spanish football rivalry will have a new chapter this Saturday, April 26, when the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona They face the grand final of the Copa del Rey 2025 at the La Cartuja stadium, in Seville. It will be the second direct confrontation between both teams in a final in this football year, After the explosive duel that starred in the Spanish Super Cup, where the Blaugrana team won a forceful 5-2.
That meeting, played in Saudi Arabia last January, scored a before and after in the season. The team led by Hansi Flick He crushed football Real Madrid by Carlo Ancelottiwith a brilliant performance of Robert Lewandowskiwho led the culé offensive. They also shone Lamine Yamal and Gaviwho overflowed with speed and vision to a white defense that did not find answers at any time of the party.
The triumph allowed Barça to reach his Super Cup number 15consolidating as the maximum winner of the tournament and adding another mood to his eternal rival. For meringues, that defeat represented a deep wound that will seek to close this Saturday in a final where there is much more than a trophy at stake.
Although several months have passed since that duel, the collective memory does not forget the Barca domain, nor the tactical dance that Flick proposed to Ancelotti. That final was a lesson of forcefulness, high pressure and effectiveness, qualities that Barcelona wants to repeat in this new appointment to reaffirm its moment. In addition, it comes with the motivation to continue fighting for double, since it is also found in the Champions League semifinals.
On the other hand, Real Madrid will seek to take revenge. Ancelotti has been finding variants, and despite the recent European elimination, meringues arrive with the need to win this title to remain alive in the season. Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham They appear as the key names to counteract the Blaugrana intensity, in a classic that promises to be closed, tactical and full of tension.
Madrid’s great unknown will be the presence or not of Kylian Mbappéwho drags a suspension in the league but could start in this final, depending on the decision of the Italian coach. In Barcelona, Lewandowski It is low sensitive after the semitendinous injury that suffered recently.
As for the history, Real Madrid has an advantage in the end of the Copa del Rey played against Barcelona. They have faced in seven finals of the cupo tournament, with three victories for the culés and four for the whites. The most recent was in 2014, when a young man Gareth Bale He dazzled with a historic career to give the title to the Madrid team.
The stage will be unbeatable. The Cartuja awaits a total full, and the two teams arrive with clear objectives: Barça wants to lift the Copa del Rey after several years of droughtwhile Madrid seeks to save its season with a local title that would also give him impulse to fight until the end for LaLiga.