Madrid, May 7 (IANS) Two goals from Real Madrid striker Rodrygo gave his side a 2-1 win in the final of the Spanish Copa del Rey against a courageous Osasuna on Saturday night.
The result means Real have won the Cup 20 times in history, while Osasuna’s second final appearance ended with the same result as the previous one, which they lost 2-1 to Betis in 2005.
Rodrigo opened the scoring for Real Madrid in the opening minute. Vinicius Jr was given too much space to turn past Jon Moncayola and Ruben Pena before pulling the ball back for his teammate to score with a shot that deflected over keeper Sergio Herrera.
Osasuna reacted well with Aridane and Ante Budimir heading at Thibaut Courtois before Aimar Oroz fired just wide, a Xinhua report said.
Vinicius was Real Madrid’s main threat and Moncayola was given a yellow card for pulling the Brazilian back, but the right-back was getting little support as the Madrid winger was given too much space.
The winger set up Karim Benzema after 24 minutes, but Herrera got down to his right to make a good save before Courtois then denied Eze Abde from a narrow-angle as the game was played at a breakneck pace.
David Alaba then rattled the Osasuna post with a free kick, before Vinicius’ protests finally earned him a yellow card.
The second half began with Benzema and Vinicius both shooting well over the bar before Osasuna leveled the game.
The side from Pamplona had threatened with crosses from the right before the ball fell to Lucas Torro at the edge of the Madrid area and the midfielder didn’t think twice before slamming a 20-meter shot into the corner of the Madrid net in the 57th minute.
Vinicius again found space down the Madrid left and David Garcia could only clear his cross to Toni Kroos. The German’s shot was deflected and fell kindly for Rodrygo to hit home.
Osasuna never gave up, but their only chance was in injury time when Dani Carvajal just nipped the ball away from Chimy Avila on the edge of the six-yard box.
–IANS
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