Alaves' Edgar Mendez, right, celebrates with Iabi Gomez, after Mendez scored against Celta Vigo on February 8, 2017. Alvaro Barrientos / AP
Alaves' Edgar Mendez, right, celebrates with Iabi Gomez, after Mendez scored against Celta Vigo on February 8, 2017. Alvaro Barrientos / AP

‘Unthinkable’: Upstart Alaves move on to meet Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final



MADRID // There could hardly be more contrasting teams in the Copa del Rey final.

Alaves, the recently promoted club from Basque Country, will be playing in the final of a major tournament only for the second time in their 96-year history. Barcelona, on the other hand, will be making their 39th appearance in the domestic competition’s final.

Barcelona have won virtually every possible title in the competitions they have played. Alaves’ only winner’s trophy is for Spain’s second division.

In the final on May 27, Barcelona will field a team that includes Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Neymar. Alaves’ top forward is Deyverson, a Brazilian barely known even in his native country.

“This was unthinkable in the beginning of the season,” Alaves coach Mauricio Pellegrino said after the team’s 1-0 home win over Celta Vigo in Wednesday’s second leg of the semi-finals. “We’ll be mobilised for this final.”

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The only other time Alaves enjoyed this kind of success was 16 years ago when they reached the final of the Uefa Cup, the competition now known as the Europa League. They got agonisingly close to the title at the time, losing 5-4 to Liverpool in extra time in a thriller in Dortmund.

They have mostly struggled since then, spending several years out of Spain’s top division. The club, founded in 1921, was promoted to the Primera Liga this season after 10 years in the lower divisions, including four in the third tier.

“After 96 years, to reach the Copa final for the first time, there will be a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ this achievement,” Alaves president Alfonso Fernandez de Troconiz said. “It’s been an amazing season.”

Barcelona, meanwhile, have been in the Copa del Rey final in seven of the last nine seasons, including the last four. They have won Spain’s second-most important club competition a record 28 times, including the last two.

But despite the lopsided match-up, there’s reason to believe in a historic result in the final.

Alaves stunned Barcelona 2-1 in the league earlier this season, handing the Catalan club their only home loss with goals by Deyverson and Ibai Gomez.

The clubs will meet again in the league on Saturday in the Basque Country in a preview of the Copa final. Barcelona is second in the league with 45 points, 18 more than 12th-place Alaves.

Before the league loss this season, Barcelona had won five straight games between the two sides, including four in the Copa del Rey. They won both games in the last 16 in 2007, and then cruised to a 6-1 aggregate win in the early rounds in 2012.

Barcelona have yet to lose a Copa del Rey home-and-away series since coach Luis Enrique took over in 2014, a run of 12 straight triumphs.

They made it to this year's final by eliminating Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid — the latter one in the semi-finals. Alaves got past Deportivo La Coruna, second-division club Alcorcon and Celta Vigo, which had eliminated Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Barcelona is already certain to be without defender Sergi Roberto and striker Luis Suarez, who were sent off in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against Atletico at Camp Nou.

The venue for the final has yet to be determined, although it will likely be played in Madrid.

Last season, officials wanted Barcelona and Sevilla to play the decider at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, but a Bruce Springsteen concert was scheduled for the venue and the Madrid club avoided having its biggest rival celebrating a title on its grounds. The final was eventually played at Atletico’s Vicente Calderon Stadium.

* Associated Press

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Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

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Company profile

Name: Tratok Portal

Founded: 2017

Based: UAE

Sector: Travel & tourism

Size: 36 employees

Funding: Privately funded

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The line up

Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego  

Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh  

Sole DXB runs from December 6 to 8 at Dubai Design District. Weekend pass is Dh295 while a one day pass is Dh195. Tickets are available from www.soledxb.com

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The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

Green ambitions
  • Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
  • Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
  • Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
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The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy

Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)

THE SPECS

Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic

Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8

Transmission: six-speed manual

Power: 518bhp

Torque: 625Nm

Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds

Price: Dh633,435

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Coming soon

Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura

When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Akira Back Dubai

Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as,  “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems. 

How to help

Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:

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Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler

Price, base / as tested Dh57,000

Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine

Transmission Six-speed gearbox

Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm

Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km

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