The 2009 Copa del Rey final was the 107th final of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The final was played at Mestalla in Valencia on 13 May 2009. The match was won by FC Barcelona, who beat Athletic Bilbao 4–1. This was the first title of Barcelona that year, before winning La Liga and the UEFA Champions League to earn their first treble.

Road to the final

Match details

13 May 2009

22:00 CEST

Athletic Bilbao	1–4	Barcelona
Toquero 8'	Report	Touré 32' Messi 55' Bojan 57' Xavi 64'

Estadio Mestalla, Valencia

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo

Athletic Bilbao

Barcelona

GK 1 Gorka Iraizoz RB 15 Andoni Iraola CB 20 Aitor Ocio CB 5 Fernando Amorebieta LB 3 Koikili Lertxundi  35' CM 16 Pablo Orbaiz  61' CM 24 Javi Martínez RW 10 Francisco Yeste (c) LW 7 David López  29'  56' CF 9 Fernando Llorente CF 2 Gaizka Toquero  61' Substitutes: GK 13 Armando CB 18 Carlos Gurpegui CB 29 Xabier Etxeita LB 42 Mikel Balenziaga MF 14 Markel Susaeta  56' MF 17 Joseba Etxeberria  61' FW 18 Ion Vélez  61' Manager: Joaquín Caparrós

GK 13 José Manuel Pinto RB 20 Dani Alves CB 24 Yaya Touré  21'  89' CB 3 Gerard Piqué LB 5 Carles Puyol (c) DM 28 Sergio Busquets CM 6 Xavi  88' CM 15 Seydou Keita  49' RW 10 Lionel Messi  50' LW 11 Bojan  84' CF 9 Samuel Eto'o Substitutes: GK 1 Víctor Valdés CB 2 Martín Cáceres DF 16 Sylvinho  89' MF 7 Eiður Guðjohnsen MF 29 Víctor Sánchez FW 21 Alexander Hleb  84' FW 27 Pedro  88' Manager: Pep Guardiola

Anthem controversy

The pre-match playing of Spain's national anthem prompted widespread booing from Catalan nationalist fans of FC Barcelona and Basque nationalist fans of Athletic Bilbao. Televisión Española (TVE) cut away from its coverage as soon as this started and consequently did not show the playing of the anthem live, instead showing it at half time with the booing edited out. Afterwards, its director Javier Pons apologised for the "mistake", and Julian Reyes, the head of sports news, was fired as a result of the censorship.^[2]