Copa Del Rey Ends In Havoc: Ronaldo Sent Off, Fights, Debris Attacks

Latest Gist:

Copa Del Rey Ends In Havoc: Ronaldo Sent Off, Fights, Debris Attacks

Atlético Madrid pulled off a shocker in winning Spain's Copa del Rey trophy today, upsetting favored Real Madrid in extra time and winning the national competition for the first time since 1996. They did this amidst a wild scene at Santiago Bernabéu that featured 15 bookings, a fight, and players being attacked by projectiles hurled by fans.

Watch Highlights after the cut.....

FC Barcelona loses, 2 classicos in a week...

Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Towering Ramos header leaves Catalans defeated again

The defender fired Real Madrid to a second win in five days against the Catalan side, who lost their discipline in the closing stages and had Valdes dismissed after full time

Real Madrid had the measure of Barcelona once again, with a 2-1 victory in Saturday's Liga Clasico at Santiago Bernabeu.

The great rivals squared off just four days after Madrid's 3-1 Copa del Rey win at Camp Nou, but for the vast majority of the game, the tone could not have been any more different, with both sides reluctant to over-exert themselves with Champions League fixtures on the horizon.
With Cristiano Ronaldo looking on from the bench, los Blancos took an early lead after only six minutes when Karim Benzema turned home Alvaro Morata's cross at the far post.

But Barca would soon hit back through Lionel Messi, who finished off a Dani Alves feed to score in his 16th straight Liga game, and equal Alfredo Di Sefano's Clasico record of 18 goals.

The match seemed destined to finish in a draw, but eight minutes from the end, Sergio Ramos rose highest to head home Luka Modric's corner and clinch the points for Madrid.

However, the defender was lucky not to concede a late penalty after a blatant trip on Adriano - an incident that saw Victor Valdes sent off at the final whistle for confronting the referee in an ugly end to the game.

Jose Mourinho's men now move to within a point of second-placed Atletico Madrid, who could cut Barca's lead at the top of the table to single digits should they emerge victorious at Malaga on Sunday.
Xavi was replaced by Thiago in midfield after picking up a hamstring injury while Carles Puyol, perhaps inevitably after his error for Madrid’s second goal midweek, made way for Javier Mascherano in defence.

Mourinho only kept four players who started Tuesday’s match, with Kaka replacing the suspended Angel Di Maria, and Morata chosen to lead the line in the absence of Ronaldo.

And with only six minutes gone, the 20-year-old forward justified his selection by fashioning the opener, taking advantage of Alves’ half-hearted pressure to put in a fantastic cross for Benzema, who was left with a simple tap in at the back post.

But Alves would make amends 12 minutes later. His sublime through pass cut straight through the heart of Madrid and released Messi, who cut onto his left foot ahead of the back-pedalling Ramos and drilled in at the near post.

The on-pitch atmosphere, as expected, was as relaxed as any Clasico in recent years, with the cut-throat intensity of meetings past conspicuously absent.

Messi should have done better on the half-hour mark when played in by David Villa, but with time to pick his spot, he instead shot straight at Diego Lopez.

At the other end of the pitch, Morata went close with an unmarked header from Modric’s cross that agonisingly found the side netting.

In the second half, Raphael Varane had to be at his absolute best to thwart Villa with a sliding tackle at point-blank range, after Messi’s through ball opened up the defence.

With half an hour remaining, Ronaldo was summoned from the bench to replace Kaka, and five minutes after his introduction, the Portuguese made his presence felt with a stinging free-kick that was parried by Victor Valdes.

Morata would go close yet again, but after latching on to Pepe's brilliant pass, he saw his finish thwarted from close range by the alert Valdes.

But with 82 minutes on the clock, Madrid would find the winner. Modric's corner saw the Barca defence hesitate, allowing Ramos just enough time to plant a superb header into the back of the net.

Ronaldo could have put the icing on the game after crashing a 25-yard free kick off the crossbar. Instead, Madrid were the ones left counting their blessings at the end of the game after Ramos' clear trip on Adriano inside the area went uncalled, sparking furious protests from Valdes at the final whistle, earning him two quick yellow cards.

Barca or Real? Iraqi Kurdistan's big football faultline

• El Clasico originally referred to Copa del Rey ties; now means any match between Real Madrid and Barcelona
• Rivalry intensified by Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) - Barca (and Catalonia) associated with opposition to General Franco, Real perceived as establishment side
• Taking five competitions into account since 1902 (La Liga, Copa del Rey, League Cup, Super Cup, Champions League) Real have won 89 times, Barca 86, with 48 draws

Noisy celebrations in the middle of the night, fights, even stabbings - this is the scene in one northern Iraqi city, after a match between Spanish football giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. Spain is thousands of miles away, but when the teams play - as they will on Saturday - passions in Erbil run very high.

Every time Real Madrid and Barcelona play, the streets empty, coffee houses fill with fans, and TV channels drop their usual programming to start the build-up for the match.

Afterwards, the streets fill again for the victory celebrations. Fans of the winning team tour the city in convoys of cars, horns blaring, young men hanging out of the windows.

But this is not Madrid or Barcelona - it's Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraq is a country with more than its fair share of political and religious fault lines, and Kurdistan - which became semi-autonomous in 2005 - also has fierce political and clan rivalries.

But when it comes to football, there are only two camps - Real Madrid and Barcelona. This is apparent even on days the teams aren't playing.

Posters of the teams adorn the streets, shops are named after them, and people wear their jerseys. Kurdish people don't seem to be very interested in local or Arab football teams, but they are fanatical about the Spanish giants.

In a coffee house in Ankawa, Erbil's Christian quarter, Barcelona fan Mustapha Ergushi puffs on a hubble-bubble as he muses on the explanation for this strange infatuation.

"Kurdish people were oppressed for years. They were not able to express their feelings, their passions," he says.

"Now they are free to let this energy out, that they kept inside themselves all those years."

Barca is part of his life, Ergushi says.

"When our team plays, we come together to watch the match in coffee shops or in houses. When we win we go out in our cars. Even if it finishes at one o'clock in the morning we celebrate in the streets."

There are regular clashes between Real Madrid and Barcelona supporters, even occasional stabbings, so police are out in force on El Clasico days, especially in Iskan, a vibrant area famous for its coffee houses.

"This place is for Real fans. Barcelona supporters are barred," says one group of young men in the smoke-filled Naight Cafe in Iskan.

Goban Askeri, who works in another coffee house in Iskan, proudly shows me his Barcelona jersey. "I can't get along with Real Madrid fans," he says. "I have fought so many times for Barcelona. Whenever Real Madrid are playing, I wear this Barcelona jersey on purpose."

Silvan Kerim Abdullah, director of the college of sport education at Salahaddin University, says the reason Kurds prefer teams from the far end of the Mediterranean to their own local clubs is because of the flair of the stars who play for them.

Whether a Kurd supports Barcelona or Real Madrid is likely to be determined by whether they prefer Barca's Lionel Messi or Real's Ronaldo, he argues.

But Kurdish journalist and blogger Abdulla Hawez says that - as in Spain, where some on the left still think of Real Madrid as Franco's team - politics and class come into it.

"Those who support Real are usually richer people, while the poorer people are more likely to support Barca."

Barcelona fans appear to be more numerous, probably because Kurdistan and Catalonia are both regions pressing for greater autonomy.

The President of the Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, well known as a supporter of Barcelona, was sent a team jersey by the club's president Sandro Rossell.

Last August, a banner was unfurled in the stands during an El Clasico in Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium bearing the words: "Kurdistan is not Iraq / Catalonia is not Spain".

Meanwhile, Real Madrid are taking steps to attract more support among the Kurds.

The Madrid team and the Erbil government signed an agreement last year on setting up football academies across the region.

One has already opened and three more are on the way.

The rivalry seems set to continue into the next generation.