With the rise of the Champions League, the importance of domestic cup competitions across Europe has taken a battering. In England, where you have two cup competitions, it is the League Cup that has suffered as managers use it to blood young talent, ease injured stars back into form or punish players for bad behaviour. This has allowed the more prestigious FA Cup to remain relatively unscathed, even after Manchester United decided to skip the competition in 1999/2000. Infact, one quick look at the winners list and you’ll see that outside of the ‘Big Four’ of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, only two clubs have won the cup since 1991. In Spain, the situation is somewhat different. In a league where the ‘Big Two’ dominate, the last 20 years has seen Barcelona win the cup three times, whereas their slightly more illustrious rivals, Real Madrid, last lifted the trophy in 1993. An incredibly poor return for a club that has enjoyed widespread success in Spain and Europe during the same time period.
Copa Del Rey Suddenly Gets Serious in Spain
It’s no easy task looking for the answer behind this cup drought for the big guns. From the round of 32, ties are played over two legs, which would normally reduce the likelihood of upsets. Lower league teams might be able to fight tooth and nail and get a result over 90 minutes, but they will normally get found out over two matches. Perhaps it is because the players switch off for these matches, all too aware that more important obstacles lie ahead. Maybe they aren’t used to playing in empty stadiums, as smaller clubs unfortunately use these ties to rake in the cash. Murcia host Real Madrid tonight, and rumour has it tickets will cost between 60 and 110 euros. Ludicrous amounts for loyal fans to pay and they are likely to demonstrate their anger by watching the match in the comfort of their living room. Even the Camp Nou and Bernabeu are half full at best for cup ties.
And then you have clubs like Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Real Zaragoza. Clubs that nowadays are unlikely to win the league, so see the Copa Del Rey as their only chance of domestic silverware. The added motivation this must give their players is enough to see them past the Real Madrids of this world. But with Jose Mourinho around, this situation is set to change. Mourinho has told his players that anything less than 100% effort will not be tolerated. That the club will not accept any more humiliations like those suffered against Real Union and Alcorcon in the last two years. The Portuguese manager is sending out a full strength XI and fully expects his team to put Murcia to the sword early doors. The players have been warned. Now it’s time to deliver.
