Champion FC Barcelona Venue Mestalla Stadium Attendance 50,000 | Date 13 May 2009 Referee Luis Medina Cantalejo Event 2008–09 Copa del Rey | |
Weather Partly cloudy
18 °C (64 °F) Location Mestalla Stadium, Valencia, Spain | ||
The 2009 Copa del Rey Final was the 107th final of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey. 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.
Anthem controversy
The pre-match playing of the Spanish 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.