The Copa del Rey. The premier cup competition in Spain is usually dominated by the elite of Spanish football, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid combining for 83 wins. However, occasionally the competition throws up a shock winner just like the one featuring today.
Real Zaragoza actually have a proud history in the Copa del Rey with six wins, which funnily enough ranks sixth among Spanish clubs for most wins. Despite that the clubs best era came in the 1960's when they reached four finals, winning two of them. For that reason the team of 2003/04 were not expected to pull up any trees but somehow would defy all the odds and go on a miraculous run to lift the trophy.
https://youtu.be/YNBKW-WUaBA
In fact, Zaragoza would only finish a lowly 12th in La Liga, with a squad that was mostly made up of experienced veterans that were coming towards the end of their careers. The likes of Dani Garcia and
Gabriel Milito had both already played for either Barcelona or Real Madrid and many others were journeyman or academy graduates such as Savio and Cani.
Los Blanquillos started off by beating Mirandes 2-1, in the first round and then needed an extra time goal from Luciano Galetti (a trend that would continue later in the competition) to knock off Salamanca 3-2 in the second round.
Zaragoza would then claim their first convincing win of the cup by easing past Real Betis 4-2 on aggregate, to set up a two legged quarter-final against the Catalan giants, Barcelona. Los Manos would remarkably win the first leg at the Nou Camp thanks to a penalty from a young
David Villa but few expected them to cling on to their slender advantage in the second leg.
That looked for all the world as if it would be the case when Luis Garcia put Barcelona ahead after just 13 minutes. Barca however, were unable to add a second and Los Blanquillos punished them late on with an 84th minute goal from Yordi to send them through to the semi-final 2-1 on aggregate.
They would face Alaves in the semi-final and a last minute Savio goal would salvage a 1-1 draw in the away leg. A solid defence would help Zaragoza secure a dull 0-0 draw in the second leg and see them through to the final on away goals.
Los Manos would play Real Madrid in the final which would be a challenge anyway, but they would be facing Los Galacticos, a side containing the likes of Roberto Carlos,
Luis Figo,
David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Raul.
Zaragoza were fearless though and they cancelled out goals from Beckham and Roberto Carlos as both Dani Garcia and Villa were on target. Those goals sent the match into extra time in a game with some crunching tackles. The two teams amassed 14 yellow cards and 2 reds between them, with both down to 10 for the extra 30 minutes.
As we said before though, Milito's extra time goal scoring heroics would pop up again and this time he netted a 112th minute winner to defeat Real and secure Zaragoza's 6th Copa del Rey title.
A stunning night to remember in Spanish football.
