1918 Copa del Rey Final
Patricio Arabolaza in front of Eduardo Teus' goal during the match
Event1918 Copa del Rey
Real Unión Madrid FC
2 0
DateMay 12, 1918
VenueEstadio O'Donnell, Madrid
RefereeFrancisco Torrens

The 1918 Copa del Rey Final was an association football match between Real Unión and Madrid FC on May 12, 1918, at the O'Donnell Stadium in Madrid. It was the deciding match of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey.[1] Real Unión beat Madrid FC 2–0 to win their first title[2][3] (second title counting the trophy won by Racing de Irun in 1913). Unión's captain, forward Juan Legarreta, scored both goals.[4][5]

Route to the final

The Copa del Rey is an annual single-elimination tournament which at the time, before the formation of the national league, consisted of the winners of Spain's eight regional leagues. Real Unión Club and Madrid FC had qualified to the 16th edition of the Copa del Rey as champions of the North Regional Championship and Central Regional Championship, respectively.

Real Unión
Round Opposition Score
Quarterfinal (single leg) Sporting de Gijón 4-1
Semifinal (single leg) Real Fortuna Football Club de Vigo 4-1

Although Real Unión had not won the final before, it was the product of the merger between Irún Sporting Club and Racing Club de Irún, the latter of which had won the 1913 Copa del Rey. In the quarterfinals, Unión beat Sporting de Gijón 4–1 thanks to a hat-trick from René Petit and a header from Agustín Amantegui.[6] Sporting's goal also came from a penalty.[6] Two days later, Unión beat Real Fortuna FC in the semifinals, again with a 4–1 result. Madrid newspaper Gran Vida's Fr. Nasarre mentions an upset by the galicians was expected and noted the "excellent" quality of their players, although their lack of cohesion allowed Unión to keep possession of the ball throughout the match and win.[6]

Madrid FC
Round Opposition Score
Quarterfinal (1st leg) RCD Espanyol 0-3
Quarterfinal (2nd leg) RCD Espanyol 1-0
Quarterfinal (replay match) RCD Espanyol 2-1
Semifinal (1st leg) Recreativo de Huelva 2-0
Semifinal (2nd leg) Recreativo de Huelva 4-0

Madrid faced Catalan champions RCD Espanyol in the quarterfinal. The first leg was played in Barcelona, with the match delayed by one day due to strong rains that lasted until six in the afternoon on the original day of the match.[7] Espanyol eventually won 3–0.[7] In the second leg, Madrid beat the Catalans with one goal, Espanyol playing with too much restraint to take advantage of the exhausted locals according to R. Ruiz Ferry of El Sol.[8] Under the rules at the time, aggregate score was not used as a tie-breaker, and so a replay match was played 2 days after the second leg even though Espanyol had scored 3 goals to Madrid's 1 over the two legs. Madrid won 2–1, although Ruiz Ferry commented that they looked dominant throughout the match.[9]

The semifinals saw Madrid play against Southern Region champions Recreativo de Huelva. In the second leg, Madrid won 4-0 and thus qualified for the final.[10]

Match

The Real Unión (left) and Madrid FC teams that played the final

Build-up

The match was completely sold out, for the first time in the stadium's history.[6]

Summary

Photograph of the final. The caption reads: "[Real Union player Manuel] Carrasco intercepting a pass from [Madrid FC player Santiago] Bernabeu in the final match of the tournament"[6]

The match started out relatively even until "seconds before the end of the first half"[6] until a shot on target by Unión was blocked by Eduardo Teus. An assistant referee waved a handkerchief indicating a goal was scored, explaining to Teus and other Madrid players that the ball had been stopped behind the goal line while the Unión players took advantage of the distraction to place the ball into the goal.[6]

In the second half, Madrid dominated the first 30 minutes but were unable to score. Then, in the last minutes of the second half Madrid's players became unable to stop their opponents attacks leaving Teus "helpless" according to Fr. Nasarre, which led to the second goal of the match by Juan Legarreta in favor of Real Unión.[6]

Details

Real Unión2–0Madrid FC
Legarreta 45', 85' Report
Referee: Francisco Torrens
Real Unión
Madrid FC
GK1Spain Domingo Muguruza
DF2Spain Manuel Carrasco
DF3Spain José Múgica
MF4Spain Román Emery
MF5France René Petit
MF6Spain Ramón Eguiazábal
FW7Spain José Angoso
FW8Spain Juan Legarreta (c)
FW9Spain Patricio Arabolaza
FW10Spain Agustín Amantegui
FW11Spain Elías Acosta
Manager:
 ?
GK1Spain Eduardo Teus
DF2Spain Cordero
DF3Spain Eulogio Aranguren
MF4Spain Ricardo Álvarez
MF5Spain Alberto Machimbarrena (c)
MF6Spain Feliciano Rey
FW7Spain Antonio De Miguel
FW8Spain Santiago Bernabéu
FW9Spain Manuel Posada
FW10Spain Joaquín Caruncho
FW11Spain José María Sansinenea
Manager:
England Arthur Johnson

Notes

  1. ↑ Velasco.
  2. ↑ "TRACK RECORD - The team in white win their 20th Copa trophy. - LIST OF WINNERS OF THE SPANISH CHAMPIONSHIP - COPA DE SM EL REY". RFEF.es (RFEF official website). 7 May 2023. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Real Federación Española de Fútbol (March 2011). "Historial" (PDF). Revista Oficial de la R.F.E.F. p. 70. Archived from the original (pdf) on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  4. ↑ Olazabal 2018.
  5. ↑ Garcia 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nasarre 1918, p. 12.
  7. 1 2 Ruiz Ferry 1918a, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Ruiz Ferry 1918b, p. 3.
  9. ↑ Ruiz Ferry 1918c, p. 2.
  10. ↑ Ruiz Ferry 1918d, p. 3.

References

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