28th Copa del Rey for Barça

Sunday night’s victory at the Vicente Calderón means that Barça’s love affair with the knockout tournament continues. The club has now won the oldest competition in Spanish football an astonishing 28 times, and have moved even further ahead of Athletic Bilbao in the all-time ranking of a competition that dates back to 1903.

Fifth consecutive title

The Basques were traditionally known as the ‘King of Cups’, but have not managed to build on their haul of 23 titles since 1984. Barça have won the cup eight times since then, including four of the last eight editions, and next season will be bidding to become the first three-in-a-row champions since the great Barcelona team of the early 1950s.

The omens are good, for Luis Enrique has yet to lose a game in the Copa del Rey since he took charge of the team in 2015. He’s led the team to successive titles for the fifth time in its history. The previous runs were in 1912-1913, 1925-1926, 1951-1952-1953 and 1997-1998.

To win the 2016 Copa del Rey, Barça had to beat a Sevilla side that had not lost any domestic or European cup final since 1962, and who were chasing their third cup title since the turn of the century.

Fourteenth win in Madrid

This was the twentieth time that Barça have played the final in Madrid, where they won their first ever title in 1910, winning 3-2 against the now defunct Club Español de Madrid.

Barça have a fine record in finals played in the Spanish capital (14 wins and 6 defeats), and have won on their last four trips (1988, 1997, 2012 and 2016) and have not lost since going down 1-0 to Real Zaragoza in 1986. That was one of six finals that Barça have played at the Vicente Calderón, where they have now won four and lost just two.

Fourth title of the season

This was the fourth trophy that Andrés Iniesta has had the honour of lifting this season, following on from the European Super Cup, Club World Cup and La Liga last weekend. The current squad has thus replicated the achievement of 2009/10 when Barça won both Super Cups plus the Club World Cup and La Liga and the 2011/12 season, when the Super Cup double was followed with wins in the Club World Cup and Copa del Rey.