Huge task for Real Madrid; defending the Copa del Rey

The current champion Real Madrid has a huge task when it starts the Copa del Rey. That’s holding onto the crown it earned in May. Something that Madrid has held onto throughout the past few decades. It has been almost fifty years since the white team last defended the title. When the competition was still known as the Generalissimo Cup, Madrid last won two cups in a row in the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons, defeating Barcelona (4-0) and Atlético (4–3 on penalties) in the Calderón finals. The last occurrence was 49 years ago.

Madrid’s record in the cup 

Madrid has since won seven Cups (1979–80, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1992–93, 2010–11, 2013–14, and 2022–23). However the team has never been able to win two crowns in a row. They have won eight Champions Leagues and 19 Leagues over that time. They have even experienced a 17-season hiatus without taking home the championship. A losing run that ended in 2011 at Mestalla when they beat Barcelona with Mourinho sitting on the bench.

Ancelotti has been the driving force behind Real Madrid’s last two Copa del Rey victories. He won the title again in a new El Clásico at Mestalla in 2013–14, and eight years later, in the final held in May at La Cartuja in Seville, he overcame Osasuna.

Madrid has won twenty Spanish Cups. They won four straight at the start of the competition (1905–1908). Additionally, they repeated as winners in 1946 and 1947. In this competition, the white squad has won the third-most titles, trailing only Barcelona (31) and Athletic (23).

Gareth Bale’s run in the 2014 Copa del Rey final

How does one take the trophy home?

As in the League, the teams that win the championship in three straight or five non-consecutive editions are the rightful owners of the Copa del Rey champion trophy. A fresh cycle starts the moment a team wins the trophy. The competition to win the current one began in the 2018–19 season and features five teams. All of them have titles: Valencia, Real Sociedad, Barcelona, Betis, and Real Madrid. Real Madrid only has one trophy, the one from 1907, having won three in a row.