Facundo Campazzo was MPV and Real Madrid recovered the Copa del Rey in the classic against Barcelona

Four years later, the real Madrid He regained the throne by winning his twenty-ninth Copa del Rey in Malaga in a vibrant classic that was only decided in the final quarter with two stellar performances: Facundo Campazzo He was the minivan of the match, but there was also an exhibition by the French center Vincent Poirier; Both were decisive in breaking Barça’s resistance and unbalancing the balance in the final 96-85.

With a single trophy in the last six editions, Real Madrid came into the event as the big favorite in almost all predictions for their great season. His victory also prevents Barça from joining him in the list of winners, given that until now only one title separated the great dominators of the competition.

The first Cup with Chus Mateo on the bench had many protagonists. Poirier was one of them, with 17 points, 8 rebounds and a PIR of 32, although the Argentines also excelled. Facundo Campazzo (18 points, six assists and named MVP) and Gabriel Deck (13 points), Guerschon Yabusele (15 points and 9 rebounds) or Dzanan Musa, with another fifteen points.

After the scoring spree the day before, both finalists started out a little more imprecise in attack, although little by little the white defense began to impose its law with Walter Tavares as standard bearer and Campazzo recovering balls. In four minutes the Blaugrana only had one basket from Jabari Parker and were already losing by seven points.

Little by little the battle became balanced and neither one nor the other managed to impose their game. Chus Mateo’s team is supported by the success of Musa and Campazzo and up front, first Tomas Satoransky and then Nico Laprovittola with two triples (his only points of the match) equalize the battle at the end of the first ten minutes (19-19). .

Despite the good start of Barcelona’s Lithuanian, ​​Rokas Jokubaitis, the fifth classic of the course remained without a starter at the beginning of the second quarter, providing the emotion that the tournament had lacked in the two semi-finals on Saturday. The comparisons followed one another waiting for some factor that would unbalance the final battle for the Cup.

Mario Hezonja, with half of his team’s 24 points in the second act, and Poirier, with seven, continued to keep the meringues going, while the eight Blaugrana players shared the goal role and a triple hit the horn by Nikola Kalinic. up to the changing rooms (43-45, 20 min).

The script did not change after the break to the delight of the spectators. Jan Vesely began to shine, with eight points in five minutes, the same as Gabriel Deck who landed his usual punch to prolong the uncertainty with actions of great merit.

Real Madrid started the decisive quarter better. Based on triples, with two from Yabusele and a third from Deck, he achieved the first serious escape of the afternoon in two and a half minutes, a 77-68 which forced Roger Grimau to call his team back to avoid greater evils because C it was a lot of play to do.

The best news for Chus Mateo’s men is that his men seem to arrive at the decisive moment better. Furthermore, his choral work was giving him results.

But Barça doesn’t want to give up and is only four points down with three and a half minutes to go. At that moment, a new white attack (86-77, min 37) put the Catalan team on the ropes, who were never able to recover and ended up on their knees in front of the overwhelming finish of the new champion.

Facu Campazzo was elected MVP

Facundo Campazzo, winner of the MVP award as best player of the 2024 Copa del Rey win by Real Madrid against Barça, acknowledged that his teammate Vincent Poirier also deserved that award and said that the final “was decided by the details” . “For me Poirier had an incredible tournament and could have won it easily, but this is secondary because we are here to win titles. When a player is good, the collective level rises,” said Campazzo, who scored 18 points and six assists in the final.

The Real Madrid playmaker said that his team “did not arrive at the Cup with good feelings”, but they found them and this is a credit to “the team and the technical staff, because we were very intelligent”.

“It was a match defined in detail, it wasn’t our best match in the Cup, but it was to our credit that we improved as we went along,” said the Argentine, who also highlighted Real Madrid’s ability to “control against each other.” one and rebounds in the second half” where they were “more solid.

“We took refuge in defense, we were intelligent in attacking and then there are winning details, such as Vincent Poirier’s defense or Deck’s pressure on the point guard.”

He did not want to get into controversy when he was questioned about refereeing, which Barça coach Roger Grimau had previously complained about: “In my life I have talked about referees and this time it will not be an exception, so I will not give my opinion” .

“When you defend well, you slide a little better in attack. Vincent Poirier’s offensive rebounds gave us the game and helped us win the Copa del Rey”