2015 Copa del Rey Final
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The Camp Nou held the final
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| Event | 2014–15 Copa del Rey | ||||||
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| Date | 30 May 2015 | ||||||
| Venue | Camp Nou, Barcelona | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | ||||||
| Referee | Carlos Velasco Carballo | ||||||
| Attendance | 99,354 | ||||||
The 2015 Copa del Rey Final was a football match on 30 May 2015 to decide the winner of the 2014–15 Copa del Rey, the 113th edition of the Copa del Rey, Spain's primary football cup.
It was played between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, at the Camp Nou, the latter club's home ground. Barcelona won the match 3–1, achieving their record 27th title in the competition. Lionel Messi and Neymar gave Barcelona a 2–0 lead at half time, and although Athletic replied with a goal by Iñaki Williams, Messi scored another goal late on to confirm his team's victory. This was the second part of Barcelona's treble, with the team going on to win the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final a week later.
Messi's first goal, in which he ran past a number of opponents, was the runner-up in the FIFA Puskás Award for the year's best goal. Neymar was criticised for his showboating in the final minutes of the match, with Barcelona manager Luis Enrique excusing his Brazilian striker for cultural reasons. Both teams and the Royal Spanish Football Federation were given fines by the nation's government for security breaches and allowing separatist demonstrations at the match. As Barcelona won the 2014–15 La Liga, Athletic qualified automatically as the cup representative in the 2015 Supercopa de España.
Before the semi-final second leg, Barcelona's board requested the final be held at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of their fierce rivals Real Madrid, as it is the largest stadium in Spain apart from their own Camp Nou. At the same time, according to Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Ángel María Villar, wanted the final at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao. That decision would have given Athletic Bilbao home advantage, but could have been challenged by potential finalist Espanyol, whose team bus was vandalised on their last visit there.
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