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1903 Copa del Rey final

Field	Value
title	1903 Copa del Rey final
event	[1903 Copa del Rey](1903-copa-del-rey)
image	Athletic Club 1903.jpg
image_size	250
caption	Athletic Bilbao, champion
team1	Athletic Bilbao
team1score	3
team2	Madrid FC
team2score	2
date	8 April 1903
stadium	Hipódromo
city	Madrid
referee	José María Soler
previous	[1902](1902-copa-de-la-coronacion-final)
next	[1904](1904-copa-del-rey-final)

Main article: 1903 Copa del Rey

The 1903 Copa del Rey final was the first final of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The match took place on 8 April 1903 at the Hipódromo, Madrid. The match was contested by Athletic Bilbao and Madrid FC.

Madrid FC scored twice in the first half to lead the match 0–2 down at the break. However, a crucial harangue at the break by the Athletic Bilbao captain and president Juan Astorquia, inspired Athletic to pull off an epic comeback in the second half that turned the game around, thus lifting the trophy for the first time with a 3–2 victory. Athletic Bilbao claims this trophy to be their second in a row, although the Royal Spanish Football Federation does not recognize the previous tournament as official. Six Athletic players who played in this final had been proclaimed champions of the Coronation Cup in the previous year with Club Bizcaya.

This match has been identified as a catalyst for the establishment a few weeks later of what would eventually become Club Atlético de Madrid, after some Madrid-based Basque students among the spectators were inspired by the comeback victory by Athletic Bilbao and decided to form a local branch of the club.

Summary

Just like the previous year, in the 1902 Copa de la Coronación, Athletic Club arrived at the decisive match at the Madrid Hippodrome without time to rest, unlike their rival.

Madrid FC decided to go defensive in the second half, feeling they could hold a 2–0 lead against a demoralized Athletic Bilbao team, but instead, they found an Athletic side even more driven than before, largely thanks to a crucial harangue at the break by their captain and president Juan Astorquia.

Madrid was able to resist Athletic's relentless siege for only 10 minutes, as the Basque club found a goal when Raymond Cazeaux scored in the 55th minute. The Athletic attack kept colliding again and again with the Madrid defense, and despite some fine saves from goalkeeper Arthur Johnson, and great defensive work from the Giralt brothers (Mario, Armando and José), the people from Bilbao managed to find the equalizer with 20 minutes to go thanks to Eduardo Montejo. Athletic did not let go of the siege and pressed for a winner, which they found in the 80th minute when Walter Evans, Athletic's left winger, perhaps its most talented footballer, made a "beautiful play" to assist Alejandro de la Sota, who came in from behind, attentive to the Englishman's antics, and he received a ball so perfect that he only had to push it into the net with his chest. "I scored it with my heart," he said years later, remembering that historic goal that sent the people from Bilbao into euphoria. The result remained unchanged until the final whistle, and Athletic Bilbao was proclaimed as the first official champion of Spain.

Match details

Report 2 Montejo De la Sota Neyra

FW		ENG Walter Evans

FW		ESP Manuel Vallarino

References

"Copa del Rey / Spanish Cup 1903".
"Madrid - Athletic Club (2 - 3) 08/04/1903".
(4 May 2015). "La arenga de Astorquia".
(26 January 2022). "La arenga de Juanito Astorquia que valió una Copa al Athletic en 1903".
(13 January 2000). "Spain - Cup 1902".
(8 April 2014). "111 años de la Final de la Copa del Rey de 1903". [[:es:Centro de Investigaciones de Historia y Estadística del Fútbol Español.
(1 January 2006). "More Than A Game: Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid". [[FourFourTwo]].
"Athletic Club VS Real Madrid 4/8/1903".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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