Cup ecstasy at the Bernabeu
"We came to win" echoed in the Northern side of the Bernabeu in the final minutes. The fans of Atletico won the game while encouraging their warriors to do the same on the pitch. And they did. In a memorable game that had everything, Atletico won their tenth Copa del Rey at the Bernabeu.
REAL MADRID 1 - 2 ATLETICO MADRID
Real Madrid: Diego Lopez, Essien, Ramos, Albiol, Coentrao (Arbeloa, 90 '), Khedira, Alonso, Modric (Di Maria, 90'), Ronaldo, Ozil and Benzema (Higuain 90')
Atletico Madrid: Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe, Mario, Gabi, Koke (Raul Garcia, 112 '), Arda (Cristian Rodriguez, 110'), Diego Costa (Adrian, 105 ') and Falcao
Goals:
Min.14. 1-0: Ronaldo
Min.34. 1-1: Diego Costa
Min.98. 1-2: Miranda
Referee: Clos Gómez booked Coentrao (54 '), Khedira (65'), Ozil (71'), Ramos (74'), Ronaldo (89'), Essien (101'), Di Maria (119') for Real Madrid and Arda (38'), Diego Costa (69'), Koke (105'), Miranda (120') for Atletico. And a red card for Ronaldo (117') and second yellow for Gabi.
The game started with Real Madrid dominating the ball, but not the game. Atletico were comfortable waiting for their opponent and trying attack with speed when they could. However, from a dead-ball situation Ronaldo headed home to give the advance to Madrid.
Simeone’s men reacted with a shot from the edge from Gabi almost sneaked into the goal of Diego Lopez. Spurred on, the momentum shifted to the red and whites as the put pressure on Diego Lopez’s goal.
With unwavering faith, Falcao received the ball from midfield, he turned and left several rivals in his tracks and picked out Diego Costa. The Brazilian, took the ball from the Colombian and closed in on Diego Lopez, he calmly finished beyond the keeper and levelled the tie in the 35th minute.
Before the break Ozil has a chance but not long after the referee pointed the way to the dressing room. The second half started with chances for Atletico who were comfortable on the field. Filipe Luis got on the end of a cross, sticking out his left boot but he couldn’t direct it on target.
Both side had chances durning the second half but the nerves began to play their part as the end off normal ime came closer. As the clock was ticking down, Atlético had three consecutive corners but thy couldn’t convert any of them and the game went in to extra time with the score tied at 1-1-.
In extra time Diego Costa had the opportunity to make it 2-1 but Diego Lopez managed to keep him out but the eeper could do nothing in the 98th minute after Koke's corner was swung in and Miranda headed home with 22 minutes left to play.
Real Madrid continued to attack the Atleti goal, looking for an eqaualiser, but a combination of great defending and worldclass goalkeeping from Courtois kept the out. As extra time wore on, Ronaldo was sent off for kicking out and in the closing stages, Gabi received a second yellow. This didn’t interfear in the result as the referee blew his full time whistle and sent the Atletico Madrid fans in to ecstasy as their side picked up their 10 Copa del Rey title.