Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid : Five Talking Points from the Copa del Rey final

A late-winner from Gareth Bale was enough to seal Real Madrid's first trophy under Carlo Ancelotti and their 19th Copa del Rey title overall. After a slow start, Barcelona came back into the game in the second half with Marc Batra cancelling Angel Di Maria's early goal. But, it wasn't mean to be, for the Catalans. Here are the major talking points from the game.

#1 Are we witnessing the demise of Barcelona?

For long periods the game, it looked as though Barcelona weren’t up for the game. Every Catalan player apart from Jordi Alba, looked more interested in going down or fighting with the referee rather than playing the game. And even the Spanish full back was withdrawn at half-time and their chances looked bleak. At the hour mark, Catalan fans started leaving the ground, even though the score line was just 1-0.

The truth was that, for all the possession, Barcelona didn’t look like their usual selves at all. There was an unusually high number of crosses into the box and slackness in passing. Even their best player, Messi looked jaded. Although they scored the equalizer, the Catalans still looked ropey at the back and it was only a matter of time before Real scored, which they did with six minutes to go. Out of the Champions League and the race for the League title, the Copa del Rey looked to be their only hope of silverware this season and now, with that also gone, this looks like a season for failure for the once-mighty Catalans.