SOCCER: Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 0REAL MADRID claimed their first trophy under manager Jose Mourinho when Cristiano Ronaldo's dramatic extra-time winner secured a King's Cup final victory over arch-rivals Barcelona last night.
With penalties looming in a tense and occasionally brutal clash at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, the Portuguese forward leaped to crash home a 103rd-minute header from Angel Di Maria’s cross after Barca had dominated the second half.
Madrid dominated the first half and then relied on their goalkeeper Iker Casillas second-half stops as Barcelona took control after the restart in an electric atmosphere at the Mestalla Stadium.
Di Maria was sent off after receiving his second yellow card just before the end of extra-time.
Real’s first domestic cup since 1993 came in Mourinho’s debut season since joining from Inter Milan, denying Pep Guardiola’s Barca, who lead La Liga by eight points, the chance of a second treble in three seasons.
Madrid’s 18th domestic cup also ends a six-game winless run against Barcelona, which lost for only the 10th time in its 35th final appearance.
Barca and Real are also due to meet in the two-legged Champions League semi-final – with the first leg in Madrid next week.
It was also revealed yesterday that Barcelona and Real Madrid have overtaken baseball’s New York Yankees as the highest paid teams in global sport, according to the Global Sports Salaries Survey 2011.
The survey, to be published on Friday, said the average annual first-team wage at Barcelona was €5.6 million, or €107,500 a week.
Real Madrid were second with their players earning an average €5.2 million a year while the average first-team salary at the Yankees was €4.75 million. NBA teams the LA Lakers and Orlando Magic were fourth and fifth respectively followed by London side Chelsea.
The report compares average first-team pay in 14 of the worlds sports leagues, including the NBA, IPL, MLB, Premier League, NFL, NHL, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga.
The Premier League remains the richest soccer league in the world with Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal among the top 30 best paid teams in world sport.
“We’ve known for years that the biggest bucks have been in American basketball and baseball, but the rise and rise in wages among the elite of European football continues, closing that gap,” Nick Harris, the editor of sportingintelligence.com and author of the report, said in a statement.
“UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations may act as a brake on this inflation in football pay in a few years time but for now the big guns in Europe are still splashing out.”
