Four years later,
Real Madrid
regained the throne by winning its twenty-ninth Copa del Rey in Malaga in a vibrant classic that was not decided until the last quarter with two stellar performances:
Facundo Campazzo
was the MPV of the game, but there was also an exhibition of the French center Vincent Poirier;
Both were decisive in breaking down Barça's resistance and unbalancing the balance in the final 96-85.
With
only one trophy in the last six editions
, Real Madrid arrived at the event as the great favorite in almost all predictions for its great season.
His victory also prevents Barça from catching up with him in the list of winners, since until today only one title separated the great dominators of the competition.
The first Cup with Chus Mateo on the bench had many protagonists.
Poirier was one of them, with 17 points, 8 rebounds and a PIR of 32, although the Argentines
Facundo Campazzo
(18 points, six assists and named MVP) and Gabriel Deck (13 points), Guerschon Yabusele (15 points and 9 rebounds) also stood out. ) or Dzanan Musa, with fifteen others.
WELCOME TO THE FACUNDO SHOW#CopaACB pic.twitter.com/j5fXF0YXyO
— TeamFacu (@TeamFacu7) February 18, 2024
After the scoring binge that they had the day before, both finalists began a little more imprecise in attack, although little by little the white defense began to impose its law with Walter Tavares as the standard bearer and Campazzo recovering balls.
In four minutes, the Blaugranas only had one basket from Jabari Parker and were already losing by seven points.
Little by little, the battle became balanced and neither one nor the other managed to impose their game.
Chus Mateo's team was supported by the success of Musa and Campazzo and in front, first Tomas Satoransky and then Nico Laprovittola with two triples (his only points of the game) equalized the battle at the end of the first ten minutes (19-19).
Despite the good start of Barcelona's Lithuanian, Rokas Jokubaitis, the fifth classic of the course remained without an owner at the beginning of the second quarter, which provided the excitement that the tournament had lacked in the two semifinals on Saturday.
The ties followed one after another waiting for some factor that would unbalance the final battle for the Cup.
Deck got among everyone to equalize the final 😤#CopaACB pic.twitter.com/yidqJZj39y
— Team Tortu Deck (@teamtortuok) February 18, 2024
Mario Hezonja, with half of his team's 24 points in the second act, and Poirier, with seven, kept the meringues going, while the Blaugranas' eight players shared the scoring role and a triple hit Nikola Kalinic's horn. It allowed them to go two up to the locker room (43-45, min 20).
The script did not change after the break to the joy of the spectators.
Jan Vesely began to shine, with eight points in five minutes, the same as Gabriel Deck who pulled his usual punch to prolong the uncertainty with actions of great merit.
Real Madrid started the decisive quarter better.
Based on triples, with two from Yabusele and a third from Deck, he achieved the first serious escape of the afternoon in two and a half minutes, a 77-68 that forced Roger Grimau to call his team to a chapter to avoid greater evils because There was a lot of game ahead.
The best news for Chus Mateo's men was that his men seemed to reach the decisive moment better.
Furthermore, his choral play was giving him results.
Noooooooo
Put the Facu bun on it, calm down 😱#CopaACB pic.twitter.com/YG6DGp76IB
— TeamFacu (@TeamFacu7) February 18, 2024
But Barça was not willing to give up and only trailed by four points three and a half minutes before the final whistle.
At that moment, a new white attack (86-77, min 37) put the Catalan team on the ropes, which could no longer recover and ended up kneeling before the overwhelming finish of the new champion.
Facu Campazzo was elected MVP
FacuCampazzo with the title of MVP, after the title won against Barça, proclaiming themselves champions of the Copa del Rey basketball this Sunday, at the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace, in Málaga.
EFE/ Daniel Pérez
Facundo Campazzo, winner of the MVP award for best player in the 2024 Copa del Rey that Real Madrid won against Barça, recognized that his teammate Vincent Poirier also deserved that award and said that the final "was decided by details."
"For me, Poirier had an incredible tournament and he could have easily taken it, but that is secondary because we are here to win titles. When a player is good, the collective level rises," said Campazzo, who scored 18 points and six assists in the final.
The Real Madrid point guard said that his team "didn't come into the Cup with good feelings," but they found them and that is a credit to "the team and the coaching staff, because we were very intelligent."
"It was a match that was defined in details, it was not our best match in the Cup, but it was our merit to improve as we went," said the Argentine, who also highlighted Real Madrid's ability to "control one-on-one and rebounds in the second half" where they were "more solid.
"We took refuge in defense, we were smart to attack and then there are things that are winning details, like Vincent Poirier's defense or Deck putting pressure on the point guard."
He did not want to get into controversy when he was questioned about the refereeing, about which the Barça coach, Roger Grimau, had previously complained: "In my life I have talked about the referees and this time it is not going to be an exception, so I am not going to give my opinion" .
"When you defend well, you flow a little better in attack. Vincent Poirier's offensive rebounds gave us the game and helped us win the Copa del Rey"