Valencia won the Spanish cup for the eighth time in their history after beating Barcelona 1-2 in the final on Saturday, a fitting end to their centenary year. The Catalans were looking to win the title for the fifth year in a row, but Piqué had to clear off the line from Rodrigo early on, and with twenty minutes gone Gameiro combined with Gabriel Paulista and Gayà on a rapid breakaway to open the scoring. Some ten minutes later Rodrigo headed the second from a fierce Carlos Soler cross, and Jaume brought off good saves from Messi and Rakitic before the break to keep his team in front. Valverde (missing the injured Luis Suárez), brought on Vidal and Malcom at half time, and Messi hit the post before pulling one back after Jaume could only push out a header from Lenglet. But Marcelino packed his defence after that, and Guedes could have added to the lead had he been able to find the target on a couple of counter-attacks near the end. (25.05.19)