MADRID — Real Madrid put a replica of the Copa del Rey trophy on display at its stadium after the original was crushed under the team bus amid the celebrations of its 1-0 final victory over Barcelona.
The replacement is on display at the club’s trophy museum inside the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The owner of the Madrid jewelers that made the trophy provided a replica.
View full sizeReal Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal poses with the Copa del Ray trophy after Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona 1-0 in the final of the competition in Valencia, Spain, on Wednesday.“I always make a spare in case something unexpected happens, lest (King Juan Carlos) be left with nothing to give out. The spare has been ready for a long time,” Federico Alegre told daily newspaper El Mundo on Friday.
The “something” happened in the early hours of Thursday morning in Madrid when defender Sergio Ramos lost his grip on the 33-pound trophy and dropped it from the top of the team bus, which ran over the cup.
Emergency services gathered up the pieces and put them inside the bus after it stopped.
“It was a fall of five meters, a bus ran over it, it has lost pieces, the base is destroyed and the rest is dented,” said Alegre, who would attempt to repair the badly damaged original. “I am not sad or even angry. These things happen, it will be another anecdote to be told in the future.”
Cristiano Ronaldo headed home the extra-time winner to give Madrid its 18th domestic cup and first since 1993.