Betis beat Valencia on penalties to win Copa del Rey

Seville, Spain, Apr 23 (EFE).- Real Betis prevailed 5-4 over Valencia in the penalty shootout here Saturday to hoist the Copa del Rey trophy for the third time in their history.

A miss by 19-year-old US international Yunus Musah in the fourth round of penalties set the stage for Seville-based Betis’ Juan Miranda to deliver the winner and he did not disappoint.

Though Valencia had won the competition eight times, most recently in 2019, they are enduring a difficult season and Betis, now fifth in LaLiga, entered as the favorites despite not having won any hardware since their last Copa triumph in 2005.

And Betis were by far the better side at the start, grabbing the lead in the 11th minute with a goal by top striker Borja Iglesias, who got his head to a fine cross from Hector Bellerin.

But a determined Valencia pulled level in the 30th minute thanks to Hugo Duro, who scored on a well-executed counter. Betis tried to regain the initiative and only the post stopped Sergio Canales from putting them up 2-1 in the 43rd minute.

Valencia looked fresher to start the second half and Betis goalkeeper Claudio Bravo did well to turn aside a shot from Duro in the 51st minute.

At the other end, Valencia’s Giorgio Mamardeshvili produced impressive stops to deny Juanmi and Nabir Fekir and the match was forced to extra-time.

Neither team was able to create much in the way of chances over the 30-odd minutes of additional play and the contest went to penalties. EFE

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