02.02.2011 23:50

Barça to meet Real Madrid in Cup final

www.fcbarcelona.cat

Real Madrid won their cup semi final second leg against Seville on Wednesday and will be Barça’s opponents in this year’s Cup Final. Madrid beat Seville 2-0 with goals from Özil and new signing Adebayor, after winning 0-1 in the first leg.

The Final, set for April 20th, will be the sixth time Spain’s top two teams have met in a Cup Final. The last time was in the 1989-90 season when with Johan Cruyff as manager Barça beat Madrid 2-0 at the Luis Casanovas Stadium( now known as La Mestalla) in Valencia.

Barça lead head to heads

Of the previous five Cup Finals, Barca have won three and Madrid two titles. It wasn’t until the 1935-36 season, more than 30 years after the competition had begun, that the two first met in a final, when Madrid won 2-1.

Four more meetings

The fans had to wait more than 30 years more for another meeting in a final – until the 1967-68 season, when in an infamous match that became known as “the game of the bottles”, Madrid fans pelted the Barça players after they’d won 0-1. The next time the two met was in 1973-74, when Madrid won 4-0, whilst the following two match ups were won by Barça: 2-1 in 1982-83 and 2- 0 in 1989-90.

Barça, Kings of Cups

Barça are back in their second Cup Final in two years, following their 4-1 win over Bilbao in the 2008-09 season, which took them to 25 titles against Bilbao’s 23 and confirmed them as Cup Kings of Spain. Behind Bilbao in Cup wins are Real Madrid, who haven’t reached a Cup Final since the 2003-04 season when they were unable to add to their 20 titles. Madrid last won the Cup in 1992-93, beating Zaragoza 2-0.