Beyond the controversy, the umpteenth between Real Madrid and the refereeing team, there will be a final tonight at La Cartuja. Real Madrid and Barça will face off in their second final this season. In the first, the Azulgrana team emerged victorious with a landslide victory in the Spanish Super Cup. Now, we will have to see who takes home the trophy in a final with a cash prize.
The financial distribution system for this competition is complex and not particularly generous, but in short: Real Madrid or Barcelona, whichever team lifts the cup, will only add €1,200,000 to their coffers, while the team that loses the final and finishes as runner-up will receive €1 million.
These figures are a far cry from the huge sums offered by other competitions such as the Champions League or the Club World Cup. Even the league champion receives more, pocketing 60 million. The difference in amounts stems from the introduction of a new format in the Cup, which aims to include more modest teams and also to distribute money throughout Spanish football and not only to those who reach the final stages, which are likely to be the strongest teams in the First Division.
We will have to wait and see what happens in just a few hours and who takes home the biggest prize in this final. It will be the eighth time that Barça and Real Madrid have met in a Cup final, with the balance to date favoring the Whites with four wins to three for the Azulgranas.
Previous Clásicos in the Cup
The first of the seven finals was played in 1936. The final was played on June 21 at Mestalla, just under a month before the start of the war, and Real won 2-1. In 1968, the second cup final between Real Madrid and Barça was played, when the finals were held in Madrid. That ‘Copa del Generalísimo’ was played on July 11, 1968. Barça won thanks to an own goal by Real Madrid’s Zunzunegui.
The third Cup final, also known as the ‘Copa del Generalísimo’, was won in 1974 by Real Madrid at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid, beating Barça 4-0. The fourth Cup final, now named the Copa del Rey, was played at La Romareda in Zaragoza on June 4, 1983. Barça won 2-1.
In the 1990 Cup final, Barça and Real Madrid met at Mestalla on April 5. Barça won, to the surprise of many, as Madrid had been on a roll with ‘La Quinta del Buitre’. The 2011 Cup final once again saw Real Madrid and Barça face each other at Mestalla. The Whites won 1-0 with a goal in extra time from Cristiano Ronaldo.
The last final between Real Madrid and Barça was also played at Mestalla. It was on April 15, 2014, and the Whites won again. Di María scored and Bartra equalized in the second half, but a memorable run by Bale, who beat the Barça goalkeeper, made it 2-1 for Madrid.