Ronaldo seals dramatic Spanish Cup win for Real

VALENCIA, Spain, (Reuters) – Real Madrid claimed  their first trophy under Jose Mourinho when Cristiano Ronaldo’s  dramatic extra-time winner secured a 1-0 King’s Cup final  victory over arch-rivals Barcelona yesterday.

With penalties looming in a tense and occasionally brutal  clash at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, the Portuguese forward  leaped to crash home a 103rd-minute header from Angel Di Maria’s  superb centre.

Di Maria was sent off after receiving his second yellow card  just before the end of extra time.

Real’s first domestic cup since 1993 came in Mourinho’s  debut season since joining from Inter Milan, denying Pep  Guardiola’s Barca, who lead La Liga by eight points, the chance  of a second treble in three seasons.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Spanish giants are also due to meet in the two-legged  Champions League semi-final on April 27 and May 3.
“It’s a very important title we’re going to enjoy it,”  Ronaldo said in a television interview.

“Mourinho has done a good job,” he added of his compatriot.  “He’s helped us a lot. Barca played very well but as you know  the team who scores wins.”

In a festive atmosphere in the Mediterranean port city, one  half of the 55,000-capacity stadium was decked out in the claret  and blue of Barca and draped in Catalan flags, while the other  was a sea of white flecked with the yellow and gold of Spain.

Barca had six players from Spain’s World Cup-winning squad  in their starting 11 and Real four but any memories of shared  glory in South Africa seemed far from their minds in an  attritional first half hour.

Real successfully closed down Barca’s creative midfielders  and pacy forwards and had much the better of the first half  before Pepe crashed a header off the post in the 44th minute  with goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto well beaten.
Barca had failed to muster a shot on target but the second  period was a different story and they utterly dominated  possession, Andres Iniesta and Pedro forcing fine saves from  keeper Iker Casillas.

However, even World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was  unable to break the deadlock and Ronaldo almost put Real ahead  when he sped on to Xabi Alonso’s pass in the eighth minute of  extra time but his arrowed drive whistled narrowly wide.

He made no mistake five minutes later and his powerful  header sent the white half of the stadium into raptures and had  them singing Mourinho’s name long after the Barca fans had  trooped dejectedly into the night.