Magic of the Copa?

Club Deportiva Minera v Real Madrid CF

As a football-loving kid growing up through the sixties and seventies, I remember when the FA Cup was the glory trophy in English football. Whilst it was always recognised that winning the league was the greater footballing achievement, football used to be about the glory and the FA Cup competition was glorious. But that was then. Some time between then and now glory was replaced by money and then, in 2024, money itself was usurped by (the financial interests of) an elite few. How else to explain the Football Association's contempt for its own competition by agreeing to the demands of that elite few - without any meaningful consultation - in banishing replays from Round 1 onwards and scheduling the final on a Premier League weekend, all so that an expansion in the number of European competition fixtures can be accommodated. Forget the glory, the FA Cup is diminished. If not quite death by a thousand cuts, it it is diminished by the actions of it guardians, sweet FA. The magic of the cup replaced by the tragic of the cup. 

But what about the Copa? Obviously, I'm talking about the Copa del Rey, Spanish football's equivalent of the FA Cup. Has the Copa gone the same way as the FA Cup? Following my recent cheeky LaLiga weekend in Madrid (see Rayo Vallecano de Madrid - The Beating Heart of Community Football), I thought it would be rude not to find out and this time the action was close to home or, in this case, my Spanish apartment in Mar de Cristal in the region of Murcia.

The local Spanish team of any note is Tier 4 club Club Deportiva Minera, based in the small town (pop. 1,300) of Llano del Beal. I confess that I have only recently discovered Minera and have attended just the two home games, the first of which I wrote about three months ago (see Loopy LInares Rides Again). Having comfortably disposed of fellow Tier 4 team CD Tudelano in the first round of the Copa, Minera were rewarded with a home tie in the second round against LaLiga outfit Deportivo Alavés, the match being played at FC Cartagena's Estadio Cartaganova in which they prevailed, on penalties after extra time and a 2-2 draw. A genuine giant killing. But the third round, the round of 32, is where the real giants enter the fray. There is a second main cup competition in Spain, the Supercopa de España, now a 4-team format (since 2019/20) between the previous season's LaLiga and Copa del Rey champions and runners up and which now, shamefully, takes place over five days in Saudi Arabia. The four participants in the Supercopa first enter the Copa del Rey in the round of 32 which invariably means the first appearances in the competion of Spanish football's two behemoths, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Seedings and lower division home advantage played their part but it was still a magical moment for the Minera team and supporters, watching the draw live on television, when their round of 32 opponents were confirmed as being Real Madrid, the biggest team in world football.

To slightly less excitement, the same draw saw Tier 2 team FC Cartagena drawn at home to LaLiga side CD Leganés who, incidentally, we went to watch last March in Madrid (see Football Away Days - CD Leganés v CD Mirandés). The two games were to be played twenty seven and a half hours apart at Estadio Cartganova in Cartagena, not much more than twenty minutes in the car from my apartment. As suggested earlier, it would have been rude not to. First up, on the Sunday, was FC Cartagena v CD Leganés.

FC Cartagena have had a torrid season thus far, currently sitting second bottom in LaLiga2 and rapidly becoming known as Cartagena Nil. One might have hoped that a cup match would have enabled the team to play with a little less pressure on their collective shoulders, particularly against higher ranked opponents who themselves have LaLiga survival on their minds following promotion last year. However, despite taking the lead in the seventeenth minute, that was as good as it got for the home team and Leganés didn't really have to break stride in strolling to a 2-1 win in a poor match in front of a sparse crowd. It didn't help that the city of Cartagena was gearing up for the Dia de Los Reyes (Day of the Kings) parade later that evening but clearly the good folk of Cartagena were more bothered about the parade than they were the football. I doubt that there were more than five thousand spectators inside the ground and whilst those that were there did their best to create a supportive atmosphere, that is more than can be said for the Cartagena players who played like they were more bothered about the parade as well. A poor start to my Copa del Rey double-header. 

One week later, FC Cartagena sacked their coach Jandro Castro and are now looking for their third coach of the season.

The Minera fans were concentrated in 
the corner at one end of the stadium
 

Next, on the Monday night, was the big one. Tier 4 Club Deportiva Minera versus Real Madrid CF. The previous night's parade (an annual event held in cities all over Spain on the evening of 5th of January), celebrating the arrival of Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar to Bethlehem over two thousand years ago may well have overshadowed the previous night's football but what we witnessed today was a modern day Dia de Los Reyes. This was royalty personified and the loyal subjects were out in their thousands to demonstrate their devotion to the cause. In a near sell-out crowd of fifteen thousand, the vast majority were there to honour their heroes from Madrid. Never mind the football, this was a communal worship. I have never seen anything like it in English football. These guys are revered as gods. In fact this was not so much a football match as a spectacular entertainment event, a star studded family show not unlike going to watch the Harlem Globetrotters, or a World Wrestling Entertainment event, where the outcome is pre-determined to ensure that everyone goes home happy. Families with young children, bedecked in their Real Madrid regalia, dominated three of the four stands whilst a small but vociferous band of Minera supporters stood their ground, concentrated in one corner of the stadium. That is not to say that Minera lacked for support but their well-wishers, like myself, were easily outnumbered throughout the rest of the ground. 

Is the Copa del Rey similarly diminished as the FA Cup? In his managerial press conference the day prior to the game, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said (and I paraphrase) that the Copa was important "only when you're not in it". He would be taking the opportunity to give playing time to some of the fringe squad members but he would not disrespect either the opponent or the competition and to be fair to him he was true to his word. The starting eleven may have included a fair sprinkling of names unfamiliar to me but any starting eleven that includes the name of Luka Modric is okay by me. Together with Eduardo Camavinga, Modric ran the show despite a spirited effort by the Minera team, including a man of the match performance from goalkeeper Fran Martínez. Madrid were 3-0 up at half time and Modric put them 4-0 up ten minutes into the second half. A few minutes later and with the game already comfortably won, Modric was substituted along with Camavinga and two others and Ancelotti delighted the crowd by bringing on superstars Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior, together with Lucas Vázquez and youngster Chema Andrés. It was in danger of becoming embarrassing for Minera but a combination of wasteful finishing and inspired goalkeeping kept the scoreline at four until the 88th minute when Madrid scored their fifth and final goal to put a more realistic shine on proceedings.

So, Madrid won. They're still in it (the Copa) and Ancelotti was able to rest his star players and give others some gametime. A near fifteen thousand crowd went home happy having been entertained and, in the case of the Minera supporters, extremely proud of their team's efforts. The royal visit was over. It had been a genuinely feel-good experience for all involved. But was it real football?

Less than seventy two hours later, Madrid were playing their football over two thousand six hundred miles away in the semi-final of the Supercopa against RCD Mallorca in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Why Saudi Arabia? Forty million euros - that's why. And whilst the four participating clubs do very nicely thank you, it is the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Real Federación Espanola de Fútbol - RFEF) that mops up almost half of this amount. As a fan of one of the participating clubs, you would probably need a cut of this pot yourself in order to afford to go support your team. I would hazard that the RFEF top brass don't do too badly though.

Despite losing the final of the Supercopa three days later to fierce rivals FC Barcelona, Madrid returned to Spain with a few extra million in the bank and no apparent jet-lag as they progressed through to the quarter finals of the Copa with an extra-time victory over LaLiga rivals Celta Vigo. For the Real Madrid owners, bankers and accountants and perhaps even Carlo Ancelotti himself, I suspect that the Copa del Rey competition is now viewed largely as an insurance policy to boost the prospect of ongoing participation in the Supercopa and its riches in the unlikely event of their failing to finish either top or runners-up in LaLiga every season. Such is the history and success of Real Madrid - officially recognised by FIFA as the "greatest club of the 20th century" - that the club exists in a football universe of its own, transcending its home country football boundaries in a way that no English club can match.To be honest, nor would I want them to. This is a model that has no need or place for the traditional football supporter.

The FA Cup has gone the way of the EFL Cup before it in that the big clubs are only really interested if and when they find themselves in the last eight of the competition. Otherwise, Premier League survival is the be all and end all. The Copa del Rey may well have gone the same way although the competition format at least lends competitive advantage to the smaller clubs in the earlier rounds with home advantage, if not the potential for financial advantage from an away tie and/ or possibility of replay. 

Football always used to be about the glory and, if I am to be completely fair, it still is. It's just that nowadays the glory isn't necessarily to be found where it once was and it costs a lot more money to achieve which fewer clubs - and their traditional supporter base - can afford. That's business I guess. Things change. Progress. Not everyone likes it but do they have a choice? Well, actually, yes. And that's what I love about football. Ultimately, football glory and success is determined by what happens on the pitch. Money helps, sometimes monopolises, but it isn't a guarantee. Real Madrid may have all the financial advantages but they don't win everything. Their challenge is to maintain those advantages but if things go wrong on the pitch - just ask Manchester United. And in the meantime, clubs like Tier 4 side Deportiva Minera are looking to build on last season's promotion. Can they do so? Can they take that next step up to the Spanish third Tier? I don't know. But for an admission fee of fifteen euros for home games, I'm looking forward to watching them try. And if they could take that next step? Well, wouldn't that be glorious.