Lionel Messi scored twice and Frenkie de Jong had a goal and two assists as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 4-0 in Saturday’s 2020-21 Copa del Rey Final.
Antoine Griezmann also scored and Jordi Alba had two assists, while USMNT back Sergino Dest played 74 minutes in becoming the first American to win the Copa del Rey.
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The Barca victory ends Real Sociedad’s reign at... 15 days.
Unfortunately for Athletic, this wasn’t as simple as understandably falling to Lionel Messi and Co. in a final.
Rather it’s a second Copa del Rey Final loss in that same 15-day time period, as Athletic fell 1-0 to their Basque derby rivals in the pandemic-suspended final of 2019-20.
The loss was all-too-familiar in another way, as Athletic has lost five Copa del Rey finals since 2008-09, and four of the five came against Barcelona.
Barca claims its record 31st Copa del Rey and first since a run of four was ended with a loss to Valencia in the 2018-19 final.
Messi now has 58 career goals in the tournament and seven career Copa del Rey titles. The Argentine megastar has scored 30 goals in all competitions this season. That’s the 13th-consecutive time he’s hit the 30 mark in his career, which is good.
How about Messi’s first goal of the game?
WHAT A GOAL LIONEL MESSI!
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 17, 2021
BARCELONA LEAD BIG IN THE COPA DEL REY FINAL! pic.twitter.com/XZoN0tulVc