Diego Capel scored early and Jesus Navas added a second late as Sevilla beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday to secure its second Copa del Rey trophy in three seasons.
Capel beat goalkeeper David de Gea with a rising shot from just outside the area after five minutes to give the Andalucians the lead in front of about 90,000 spectators at the Camp Nou stadium.
Sevilla weathered constant pressure from the Europa League champions — with goalkeeper Andres Palop denying Diego Forlan in the 79th minute — before Navas sealed the victory from a counter-attack during injury-time.
PHOTO: AFP
Sevilla, which beat Getafe 1-0 in the 2007 final, secured its fifth Spanish cup while Atletico was hoping to close out the campaign with its second piece of silverware.
Palop collected the trophy from Crown Prince Felipe before club president Jose Maria del Nido paid tribute to former coach Manolo Jimenez, who was replaced by Antonio Alvarez because of a poor run in the league — despite leading the club to its seventh final.
“Part of reaching this final has to be dedicated to Manolo Jimenez,” said Del Nido, whose team won its sixth trophy since 2006.
He also dedicated the victory to former player Antonio Puerta, who suffered cardiac arrest during a game in 2007 and died a few days later.
Capel’s left-footed shot gave Sevilla the lead but Atletico took control of the up-tempo game from then, with Sevilla blocking three separate chances from inside the area in the 11th.
Palop cradled Simao Sabrosa’s curling shot in the 17th before Sevilla responded in the 26th, but Sebastien Squillaci could only poke Renato’s cross weakly toward De Gea.
Sevilla sat back and tried to keep Atletico in check with its physical play, but the Madrid club found space down the flanks.
Antonio Lopez skirted free in the 42nd to find Forlan inside the area, but the Uruguay striker wasted his good chance — a week after scoring both goals in the 2-1 win over Fulham in the Europa League final.
Palop dove to tip Forlan’s swerving drive wide moments later, and Aguero headed wide of the open goal on the following corner.
“You always want to be a big part of any match, but what was important was the goals,” Palop said.
Atletico pressed forward after the restart with Palop pushing Tiago’s dipping shot out in the 50th before De Gea came up big in front of Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, who was in attendance a day before unveiling his 23-man squad for the World Cup.
Kanoute drew two defenders in the 59th before passing to an open Alvaro Negredo — another player hoping to make the Spain team — but De Gea came out to cut down the angle and make the save.
The two teams started scuffling after Perea’s hard tackle on Capel, with a Sevilla assistant set from the touchline.
However, Palop stayed focused to tip Forlan’s hard volley from outside the area off the crossbar and out.
“We had our chances,” said coach Quique Sanchez Flores, who guided Atletico to the final after replacing Abel Resino.
At the start of injury time, Navas rounded De Gea before firing a hard shot that deflected off defender Alvaro Dominguez into the net.
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