Copa del Rey winners list: who has lifted the most Copas?
Barcelona cemented their status as the Copa del Rey's most successful club with victory over Athletic Club in Saturday's final in Seville.
Copa del Rey kings Barcelona make it 31 cup triumphs
Barcelona's Copa del Rey final win over Athletic Club on Saturday saw the Blaugana lift the trophy for the 31st time in their history and extend their record as the competition's most successful club.
Messi at the double as Barcelona thump Athletic
Goals by Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong were followed by a brace by Lionel Messi as a dominant Barça thumped Athletic 4-0 at Seville's Estadio de la Cartuja.
Messi's double took him to an unprecedented nine career goals in Copa finals, surpassing the previous record of eight held by Athletic great Telmo Zarra.
Athletic's wait for Copa number 24 goes on
For Athletic, defeat to Barça was made doubly devastating by the fact that they also lost the postponed 2020 Copa final to Basque rivals Real Sociedad earlier this month.
Los Leones are the Copa's second-most decorated club with 23 wins, but they haven’t tasted success in Spain's domestic cup since back in 1984, when they beat Barça in an infamous final dubbed the ‘Battle of the Bernabéu’, after an on-field brawl erupted between the two sides after the final whistle.
Athletic have now been losing finalists six times since then, with four of those defeats in the Copa's showpiece event coming against Barça - in 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2021.
Real Madrid have 19 Copas - but just two this century
Meanwhile, Real Madrid may have more Spanish league titles and more European Cups/Champions Leagues than any other club - 34 and 13, respectively - but they are only the third-most successful club in the Copa del Rey.
Madrid have won the competition 19 times - and have massively struggled to add to their tally of Copa wins in recent decades. Indeed, in the nearly 30 years that have passed since Los Blancos saw off Real Zaragoza in the 1993 final, they have won the trophy just twice more, in 2011 and 2014.
Barcelona's Copa del Rey hot streak continues
By contrast, Barça have utterly dominated the tournament in recent years. The Catalans have reached 10 of the last 13 Copa del Rey finals, winning seven of them. Four of those cup triumphs came consecutively, between 2015 and 2018.