Real Madrid managed to hold off the relentless advances of Osasuna to win their first Copa del Rey since 2014 on Saturday evening.
A brace from Rodrygo helped Los Blancos on their way to victory, but they were made to work for the silverware at La Cartuja in Seville.
Osasuna were denied their first ever major trophy but can return to Pamplona with their collective heads held high after an impressive display against the reigning European champions.
Real Madrid broke the deadlock with less than two minutes on the clock. Vinicius Junior danced his way inside on the left byline past Jon Moncayola and Ruben Pena, pulling the ball back for Rodrygo to fire home from around 10 yards.
Pena sought to make amends back down the other end, picking out striker Ante Budimir with a delicate cross soon after, but the Croatian’s header was easily held by Thibaut Courtois.
Los Blancos were happy to exploit the spaces behind the Osasuna defence on the counter, with Vinicius continually running at Moncayola, this time crossing for Rodrygo to tee up Karim Benzema, but the Frenchman’s shot was well saved by Sergio Herrera.
Osasuna were causing problems though and should have been level when Barcelona loanee Ez Abde robbed Eder Militao of the ball and raced through one-on-one with Courtois, managing to dink the imposing Belgian but only for Dani Carvajal to retreat and clear the ball off the line.
The chaos continued with David Alaba rattling the crossbar with a phenomenal 30-yard free-kick on the half-hour mark.
Vinicius was next to try his luck, cutting in from the left and curling a strike from 15 yards narrowly over the top.
Within 12 minutes of the restart, Osasuna found a leveller. Abde’s cross was deflected into the path of Lucas Torro, whose first-time strike from 20 yards flew through a body of players and ended up in the bottom corner of Courtois’ net.
Real Madrid blew a terrific chance to go back in front almost immediately from the resulting kick-off. Benzema’s cross managed to find Fede Valverde in acres of space, but he skied his volley.
And Los Blancos went back in front with 20 minutes left to play. Vinicius again was able to scamper to the touchline and Osasuna failed to deal with his ball across the face of goal, with Toni Kroos’ deflected shot falling kindly for Rodrygo to tap in his second of the evening.
Substitute Antonio Rudiger headed over from a Rodrygo cross while Vinicius’s selfless cutback was intercepted by Herrera in the final five minutes as Real Madrid looked for a clinching goal.
Osasuna had time to carve out one last chance when Chimy Avila found Kike Garcia with a superb low cross, but Carvajal again came to Real Madrid’s rescue with a trophy-winning last-ditch challenge.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men just about survived five excruciating minutes of stoppage time to clinch the trophy.
