Seville (Spain), Apr 27: Jules Kounde scored a 116th minute winner to give FC Barcelona a thrilling 3-2 win in the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid on Saturday night.

Kounde was quickly onto a ball from Luka Modric in the Madrid half and with the game looking set for a penalty shoot-out, he drilled the ball past Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to give his side the 32nd cup of their history.

The match went ahead after controversy on Friday after Real Madrid's TV network, Real Madrid TV broadcast a video attacking referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, who was in tears in his press conference explaining how the pressure affected his family, reports Xinhua.

Real Madrid insisted the referee should not take charge of the game and there were even rumors the club had considered boycotting the final in protest.

Things started badly for Madrid when Ferland Mendy had to limp off after just 10 minutes with a groin injury and was replaced by Fran Garcia and Lamine Yamal looked to take advantage of the substitute, skipping past him down the line and seeing a shot slide wide of the post.

Thibaut Courtois tipped over Jules Kounde's header, while at the other end, Kounde did well to block Garcia's shot.

Real Madrid was clearly looking to deny Barcelona space and Antonio Rudiger and Raul Asencio were lucky to escape bookings for challenges from behind, before Barca took the lead in the 28th minute.

Yamal again found space and took his time before slipping the ball to Pedri, who ran in from deep to place a wonderful shot past Courtois into the corner of the net.

That brought Real Madrid forward more, with Bellingham sliding the ball into the Barca net only for his 'goal' to be ruled out for offside.

It was almost 2-0 shortly before halftime when Dani Olmo's corner evaded everyone, but bounced clear off the inside of the post.

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was brave in the second half with Mbappe starting the second half and Arda Guler and Luka Modric soon joining him in the action and the freshened up Madrid side began to cause Barca a lot of problems with their pace.

Mbappe forced a block from the previously unoccupied Wojciech Szczesny, who produced two fine saves to frustrate Vinicius.

He could do nothing to stop Mbappe levelling with a free kick from just outside of the area with 20 minutes left to play.

Seven minutes later Madrid was ahead after Aurelien Tchouameni ghosted in unmarked to power home a header as his side forced a string of corners.

The title looked Madrid's to lose, but Barca found an equalizer when Yamal hit the ball over the top of Madrid defense, Courtois went walkabout and Ferran Torres rolled the ball in from a tight angle.

Barca had two penalty appeals turned down in injury time, with the VAR overturning the referee's decision in the 96th minute after Raphinha went down under Asencio's challenge.

That took the game into extra time, where Kounde would prove to be decisive as tensions threatened to boil over and Madrid's Antonio Rudiger needing to be restrained after appearing to throw a bottle at the referee in protest at a late decision.

(IANS)

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