 | |||||||
| Event | 1919 Copa del Rey | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| (after extra time) | |||||||
| Date | 18 May 1919 | ||||||
| Venue | Martínez Campos,Madrid | ||||||
| Referee | Julián Ruete | ||||||
| Attendance | 8,000 | ||||||
←1918 1920 → | |||||||
The1919 Copa del Rey final was anassociation football match betweenArenas Club de Getxo andFC Barcelona on 18 May 1919 at theMartínez Campos stadium in Madrid. It was the deciding match of the Spanish cup competition, theCopa del Rey. Both teams progressed through a quarterfinal and a semifinal round to reach the final, with Barcelona going undefeated throughout the tournament. The final was attended by a crowd of 8,000 spectators with all tickets having been sold out. With the match tied 2–2 at the end of regular time, Arenas were able to use their superior endurance to win 5–2 inextra time thanks to goals byFlorencio Peña andJuan Ibaibarriaga as well as a hat-trick fromFélix Sesúmaga. This victory gave Arenas their first and only national cup title.
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinal (1st leg) | Racing de Madrid | 8–2 |
| Quarterfinal (2nd leg) | Racing de Madrid | 0–2 |
| Quarterfinal (replay match) | Racing de Madrid | 3–0 |
| Semifinal (1st leg) | Real Vigo Sporting | 2–0 |
| Semifinal (2nd leg) | Real Vigo Sporting | 6–1 |
The Copa del Rey is an annualsingle-elimination tournament which at the time, before the formation ofthe national league, consisted of the winners of Spain's eight regional leagues. Arenas Club de Getxo and FC Barcelona had qualified to the 17th edition of the Copa del Rey as champions of theBiscay Championship and theCatalan Championship, respectively.
Arenas had previously reached the final in1917, losing 2–1 in a replay match toMadrid FC. Barcelona had won the competition three times in1910,1912, and1913. In the quarterfinals, Arenas won the first leg againstRacing de Madrid 8–2,[1] with Sesúmaga scoring seven goals.[2] Arenas took an early lead by scoring four goals in the first five minutes and Racing could not come back even though they dominated possession in the second half.[3]
The second leg was lost by Getxo 0–2.[1] Arenas had controlled the first half and part of the second, but missed many clear chances to score (including apenalty kick).[4] Under the rules at the time,aggregate score was not used as a tie-breaker, and so a replay match was played 3 days after the second leg even though Arenas had scored 8 goals to Racing's 4 over the two legs. The day of the rematch it rained heavily and, though the pitch did not have proper drainage facilities, the match was played.[1] Arenas won 3–0. After the match, the captain of the Racing lodged a protest accusing the referee of clear partiality towards the hosts. According to the captain, none of the goals were valid (the first being called offside by theassistant referee, the second due to a controversialcontinuation of play after a rough foul by an Arenas player, and the third as result of a controversialhandball call). Additionally, the captain felt that the match should have been postponed due to the weather, with both an assistant referee and the representatives of theCentral Spanish Federation believing the pitch conditions were not suitable for play.[5]
Arenas then facedReal Vigo Sporting, a Galician team that had previously reached the final in1908. Arenas scored in the 10th minute of the first match thanks to a run from Sesúmaga. He followed it again with another goal later in the first half, with Vigo unable to score a penalty. Vigo controlled the second half but were unable to score, Arenas winning 2–0.[6] In the second leg Arenas was much more dominant, demoralizing their captain-less opponents with a 2–0 lead in the first half and handling the heat better in the second to take a 6–1 victory, thus securing a spot in the final.[7]
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinal (1st leg) | Real Sociedad | 6–0 |
| Quarterfinal (2nd leg) | Real Sociedad | 3–1 |
| Semifinal (1st leg) | Sevilla FC | 4–3 |
| Semifinal (2nd leg) | Sevilla FC | 3–0 |
Barcelona won all their games in the competition on the way to the final. They defeatedGipuzkoa championsReal Sociedad 6–0 in a sold out home stadium with a hat-trick fromLakatos on 13 April.[8][9] They had quickly established control of the pitch withReguera stifling any counter-attack attempt. During the second half, with the score 3–0, Real Sociedad's goalkeeper was substituted due to injury but the backup goalkeeper fared no better with Barcelona scoring three more.[8] Barcelona's players had played individually well and Real Sociedad's "very bad form and attack" was unable to take advantage of the eventual winner's weak teamwork.[8]
One week later Barcelona beat Sociedad away 3–1 at theAtotxa Stadium,[10] coming from behind thanks to another hat-trick (this time fromVicente Martínez).[11] Both teams were praised by the press for their 'noble' play during both legs.[10][12]
The semifinals were againstRegional Sur championsSevilla FC. In the first leg in Barcelona, the local team began the match overly confident but were quickly surprised by a dominant performance by Sevilla.[13] The visitors managed to equalize twice until Barcelona took over the match in the last 10 minutes,[13] but not before Sevilla scored a late goal in the 85th minute. Barcelona responded instantly with an 86th-minute equalizer and followed it up with an 88th-minute winner by club legendPaulino Alcántara, with the Sevillians by now physically exhausted.[13][14] The away leg was "unremarkable",[13] with Alcántara scoring three in the second half.[15] Both teams had focused on playing through the air and using headers during this second match and performed better than in the first leg.[16]
Madrid newspaperEl siglo futuro had predicted Arenas to win.[17] Attendees broke down the stadium's outside fencing twice to try and get in as all tickets had been sold.[18]Marca reports the attendance at 8,000 spectators, whileEl Día journalist A. Martin Fernandez estimated at least 7,000.[19][18]The weather was described as "splendid" byGran vida journalist Fr. Nasarre, with partly cloudy skies.[13]
Barcelona used a more patient, technical style of play while Arenas relied on a brute-force method of reaching the opponent's goal. The latter's physical advantage and consequent endurance was a major influence on the result.[18] Right-backReguera and right half-backAgustín Sancho were the most hard-working of the Barcelona players but to no avail against the rapid transitional play and defensive solidity of the winners which proved decisive according to Martin Fernandez.[18]
Barcelona was the first to attack, threatening the goal multiple times with Arenas counter-attacking.[20] Arenas took the first shot-on-goal[20] thanks to a "serious attempt" byPagaza[13] and shortly afterwards, Sesúmaga gave Arenas the lead with a "beautiful" goal.[21] Arenas were then able to take control of possession. Viñals managed to find an equalizer for Barcelona off of a deflected shot fromGarchitorena,[18] with the team dominating for the rest of the first half.[21]
Viñals gave the Catalans the lead in the early moments of the second half with a cross that Garchitorena passed toLakatos for the goal.[20][21] However, Arenas was the more dominant side during the second half.[13] With just 10 minutes to go, Arenas brought the score to 2–2 thanks to a strike from Sesúmaga.[18] Minutes remaining in regular play, Garchitorena missed a clear shot a few paces from the goal.[18] With the game now inextra time, Sesúmaga once again scored with an assist by Pagaza.Peña then scored the fourth goal for Arenas.[21] A fatigued Barcelona were unable to match the pressuring pace of the Basque team in overtime.Ibaibarriaga then scored with one minute and a half left.[21]
The referees were seen to perform well and neutrally.[13][18] The head referee,Julián Ruete, announced his decision to retire from refereeing after the match.[18]
| Arenas | 5–2 (a.e.t.) | Barcelona |
|---|---|---|
Sesúmaga 12',80',96'F. Peña 116'Ibaibarriaga 119' | Report1 Report2 | Vinyals 38' Lakatos 55' |
       Arenas |     Barcelona |
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