Real Madrid vs Castilla, 1979-80 Copa del Rey final
Football has some unique and unrepeatable moments that remain in some cases as anecdotes or curiosities and in others as feats, which adds a special additional taste to this sport. On June 4, 1980, the most Real Madrid final in history was played, since the decisive match of the Copa del Rey that year was Real Madrid facing its youth team, Real Madrid Castilla, at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
The road to the final
The main team of Real Madrid had some tough qualifying rounds to reach the final, mainly in the quarterfinals, when they faced Real Betis, which that season was having a very good level that earned them to finish fifth in the Spanish league and a Madrid derby against Atlético de Madrid in the semifinals that was decided by penalties, after two draws (0-0 and 1-1) in the two qualifying games. The white club won 4-3 from twelve steps.For their part, Castilla had a considerably more complicated path considering that they were participating in the Second Division championship and they were a youth team. At that time, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Basque teams had their best historical moment and, funny enough, Athletic Club Bilbao was Castilla's rival in the round of 16 and Real Sociedad was their rival in the quarterfinals.
The San Sebastian team was the most difficult obstacle to overcome, not only because they won the first leg 2-1, forcing Castilla to come back from the tie winning 2-0, but also because Real Sociedad was the team that was competing for the lead of the First Division against the first team of Real Madrid. In fact, after losing to Castilla in the second leg of the Copa del Rey, the Basque team visited Sevilla on the penultimate day of the league and lost to the Andalusians, which gave Real Madrid the opportunity to take the leadership of the league to later consecrate champion.
Due to the good form of the San Sebastián team, it is said that Castilla's comeback affected the team's morale and that is why they lost to Sevilla. In the semifinals, the Real Madrid affiliate met a fourth First Division team on their way to the final (they had faced Hércules in the fourth round), Sporting de Gijón de Quini, who, it is worth mentioning, finished third in the tournament of the First Division of 1979-80. The Asturian team took the lead in the tie by winning 2-0 in the first leg, however an impressive 4-1 in favor of Castilla in the second leg allowed the subsidiary to reach the final of the tournament.
The final
Normally, Castilla had training sessions with the Real Madrid first team, but in the week before the final, the club decided to send the youth team to train separately, in a somewhat remote training ground. On the day of the final, despite the fact that it was a match between practically friends, the first team players had an intimidating attitude against the Castilla players so that they would not concentrate on the match.The academy was characterized throughout the cup for being a team that supported each other throughout the game and that had a winning spirit and that was not seen in the day of the final. The Castilla players themselves recognized that they were individualists because it was a great showcase for them and they also lacked the intensity that they had shown in the previous rounds. In the end, the match ended 6-1 in favor of the senior players.
After the final, during the celebration on the field, both teams lifted the trophy and enjoyed the moment as if there had been no loser. That final left a photo in which both mixed teams appear posing with the Copa del Rey, an image that became iconic of what was that event in Spanish and world football. Funny enough, despite having been defeated, Castilla qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup the following season since the senior team had been league champions and therefore qualified for the European Cup. That Castilla side has been the only youth team in history to participate in a European UEFA competition.
Changes in the rules
After the final, the subsidiaries were able to continue participating in the Copa del Rey for ten more years, until the start of the 1990-91 season, the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) made changes to the regulations that made the clubs included their subsidiaries in a more dependent way within their structures, somewhat breaking the relative independence that the subsidiaries had at that time, where they had their own identities.Although the term subsidiaries have been maintained to date, from a regulatory point of view, they are considered as dependent teams. This changed the perspective on the subsidiaries since they were part of their main clubs, therefore, two teams from the same club could not participate in the same competition. A couple of years later, the Federation Cup (or RFEF Cup) was created where teams from the minor divisions of Spanish football participate and the subsidiaries were participating there until 2019.
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