SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Real Sociedad beat Atletico Madrid on penalties to win the Copa del Rey title on Saturday, giving American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo his first career title after he moved to Spain this season.
After the game finished 2-2 following extra time, Sociedad goalkeeper Unai Marrero saved shots by Alexander Sorloth and Julián Álvarez and Pablo Marín converted the last kick to clinch the shootout 4-3.
“It has been an unbelievable journey
and my feeling is it could be just the beginning,” the 48-year-old Matarazzo said. “You visualize success, and you trust your players, but until you cross the line you don’t feel it. With that penalty I took a few moments to realize it, and it was pure joy for our players and staff.”
Sociedad needed 14 seconds and just three players to touch the ball directly after kickoff to take the lead through Ander Barrenetxea.
Ademola Lookman equalized for Diego Simeone’s side with a goal in the 19th minute, but a penalty by goalkeeper Juan Musso allowed Mikel Oyarzabal to restore Sociedad’s advantage in first-half injury time.
Álvarez stroked a shot into the right corner to make it 2-2 in the 83rd.
The New Jersey-born Matarazzo took over Sociedad in December when it was two points above the relegation zone in the Spanish league. Four months later, the Basque Country club has won the cup and is in the upper half of the La Liga table.
Atletico will now turn its focus to the Champions League semifinal against Arsenal staring later this month.
“We fought back from the 1-0 and 2-1 and had chances to win it. We can only congratulate our rival, which was more clinical at key moments,” said Simeone, who after a point-blank miss by Alex Baena in the final minutes went down on his hands and knees with his head briefly pressed to the turf.
Opta Statistics said Barrenetxea’s goal was the fastest ever in a Spanish cup final.
The opening goal against Atletico’s vaunted defense was about as simple as they come: ball to goalkeeper, long ball down the right flank, where Gonçalo Guedes was free to send in a cross for Ander Barrenetxea to head it home.
The sequence exposed a series of less-than-ideal defending. Neither Nahuel Molina nor Giuliano Simeone intercepted reachable balls; Matteo Ruggeri let the shorter Barrenetxea outjump him for the header; and goalkeeper Juan Musso perhaps could have made a more sprightly effort to stop the shot from bouncing past.
Lookman again proved the most-impactful winter signing by a Spanish side – his goal was his seventh for Atletico – when the former Atalanta forward received a pass from Antoine Griezmann just inside the area and sent a left-footed shot inside the post.
Oyarzabal went to the spot after Musso slammed into Guedes while disputing a high ball in the box. Oyarzabal lived up to his reputation as a penalty expert, slotting his try home. The Spain striker also scored a penalty for the only goal in the 2020 cup final against Athletic Bilbao.
Sociedad was in control and only minutes away from the title when Atletico finally mounted a good team move to unsettle Sociedad’s defense for the first time and set up Álvarez in the second half.
Musso made up for his earlier mistakes by making back-to-back saves in extra time. And Álvarez went close to netting a winner when he hit the woodwork in the 100th.
Otherwise, Atletico created several chances it couldn’t finish off to get the title-clinching goal.
Then it was Marrero’s turn to shine as he guessed right on the first two penalties by Atletico’s strikers before Marín fired his shot into the top corner.
“I knew that if we got to penalties, I believed in myself, my teammates believed in me, our fans believed in me,” the 24-year-old Marrero said before the winners received the trophy and medals from Spanish King Felipe VI.
“I still can’t believe it,” Marrero said. “The boy who dreamed about this since he was young has fulfilled his dream.”
Griezmann will now need to help steer Atletico past Arsenal in the European semifinals to have another shot at finishing his final season in Spain with a title before the club’s all-time leading scorer joins Orlando City in the MLS next season.
“We want to win the Champions League,” Atletico’s veteran midfielder Koke Resurrección said. “But tonight is a hard night. We will have time to think about the Champions League.”
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