Joaquin a champion at 40, Pellegrini's first trophy in Spain: five great stories from Real Betis' Copa del Rey win

Real Betis beat Valencia on penalties to win the Copa del Rey on Saturday night - their first trophy since 2005.

The Seville-based club took the lead through Borja Iglesias after 11 minutes in the city's La Cartuja stadium, but were pegged back by a Hugo Duro goal later in the half.

There were no more goals in an entertaining contest in which Manuel Pellegrini's side played the better football, so extra time and penalties were needed to settle the tie well after midnight.

And Betis prevailed, netting all of their penalties to win the shootout 5-4 after Yunus Musah missed his spot-kick for Valencia.

Here, a look at some of the great stories behind Betis' memorable triumph on Saturday night...

Joaquin a champion again at 40

Joaquin Sanchez is a Real Betis icon and a champion again with the club that he loves - just a few months short of his 41st birthday!

The popular midfielder was in the Betis team which won the Copa del Rey in 2005 and is now the only player to have won two trophies with the Andalusian club.

Also a cup winner at Valencia in 2008, when he was famously photographed celebrating naked with the trophy in the dressing room, the Betis captain dedicated this latest victory to the club's fans.

And with his characteristic sense of humour, he laughed off speculation that this cameo - he was introduced late in normal time and converted a penalty in the shootout - could be one of his last in the green and white of Betis.

"How can I go now when we're just starting to win?" he said after collecting the trophy from the King of Spain.

Childhood Betis fan Miranda hits winning penalty

The last time Real Betis won the Copa del Rey, Juan Miranda was a five-year-old fan of the verdiblancos watching on from the stands with his family at the Vicente Calderon.

Miranda would later play for Betis as a youngster, before joining Barcelona, but returned to the Benito Villamarin on loan in 2020 and then in a permanent deal last summer.

The 22-year-old did not start against Valencia, but came off the bench to replace Alex Moreno in the second period of extra time and hit the winning penalty to seal victory for Betis in a fairytale finale.

"I was shitting myself, I'm not going to lie," the left-back said afterwards. "But the win tastes better this way.

"I knew that we would win, that it would work out well and that this cup would come back with us to the Benito Villamarin."

Bellerin wins another cup, thanks his father

Hector Bellerin won three FA Cups during his time at Arsenal and added a Copa del Rey to those triumphs on Saturday night.

The right-back joined Betis on loan last summer and has been an important part of the verdiblancos' back line in 2021-22.

Bellerin, who played all 120 minutes against Valencia, had spoken of making his father happy when he signed for Betis.

And at the end of his post-match interview with ESPN last night, he concluded: "Can I just say one thing? Thanks to my dad, for being a Betis fan!"

Pellegrini's first trophy in Spain

Manuel Pellegrini has spent much of his coaching career in Spain and is fondly remembered at both Villarreal and Malaga.

The Chilean took Villarreal to second place in La Liga and to the Champions League semi-finals, while his Malaga side also reached the last eight of Europe's premier club competition.

In a sole season at Real Madrid, he set a new points record for Los Blancos in La Liga but lost out to Pep Guardiola's great Barcelona team and was sacked.

The 68-year-old has won titles as a coach in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and in England with Manchester City, but this triumph is a long-overdue reward for his great work in Spain.

"I won the Intertoto at Villarreal," Pellegrini said afterwards. But he added: "I have had the good fortune to win trophies in almost all the countries I have been to. To do it in this tournament and this atmosphere, I value it highly."

Five Betis penalty takers were all subs

Goalscorer Borja Iglesias and midfielders Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales might each have been expected to take a penalty for Real Betis in the shootout, but all three were substituted by coach Manuel Pellegrini in extra time.

And unusually, all five of the Betis penalties ended up being taken by substitutes.

Joaquin came on close to the end of the 90 minutes, Willian Jose and Andres Guardado were introduced in the first period of extra time, Juan Miranda at the interval after that and Christian Tello with nine minutes remaining.

All converted their spot-kicks and Pellegrini said afterwards: "All five penalties were taken by substitutes because they were fresh and because they are specialists."

The plan worked to perfection.