Barcelona 1-2 Valencia : 4 talking points from the 2018/2019 Copa del Rey final 

The 2018/2019 footballing season in Spain officially came to an end on Saturday evening, with Valencia triumphing over Barcelona in the 117th Copa del Rey final at the Estadio Benito Villamarin.

The Blaugrana came into the match as heavy favorites and having already won La Liga, they were looking to make it a double in consecutive seasons.

Their shambolic performance at Anfield in the second leg of their semifinal clash in the Champions League which led to their elimination meant that it was expected that the club would use victory in the Copa del Rey as consolation to end the season on a high.

However, that proved to not be the case as Valencia ran out 2-1 winners. In this piece, we shall be highlighting four talking points from the enthralling Copa del Rey final.

#4 Lionel Messi magic fails to inspire Barcelona

Barcelona v Valencia - Spanish Copa del Rey Final

Having won the Pichichi award for a sixth time, as well as extend his record-breaking European Golden Shoe tally to six, Lionel Messi came into the fixture looking to inspire Barcelona to the trophy which would have been his 35th major honor since he made his debut and second as club captain.

In the absence of Luis Suarez, the goalscoring burden fell on Lionel Messi and the Argentine icon seemed determined to make his mark, taking the game to Valencia and trying to spark a comeback.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner hit the left-hand post just before the hour, before hitting the back of the net with a tap-in from Clement Lenglet's rebounded header off the post to become the first man to score in six different Copa del Rey finals.

This however proved to not be enough, as Barcelona paid dearly for the subpar performance of their other forwards, most notably Philippe Coutinho, and how they must have wished Luis Suarez was available.

#3 The pressure increases on Ernesto Valverde

Valverde's position is bound to come under increased scrutiny

Ernesto Valverde was announced as Barcelona's manager in the summer of 2017 to replace Luis Enrique and the 55-year-old performed significantly well in his first season, guiding the club to a domestic double and almost finished the La Liga season unbeaten but for a shock 4-3 loss to Levante on the penultimate matchday.

Interestingly, Barcelona have lost just four La Liga matches from 76 across two seasons under Valverde's management and his spell so far would have been considered a huge success but for his underperformance on the continent, which is where Barcelona really want to strut their stuff.

Last season, the club held a significant 4-1 advantage over AS Roma in the quarterfinal but somehow managed to get eliminated and in rather shocking scenes, lightning struck twice as Liverpool once more dumped the Catalans out in similar circumstances to pile pressure on Valverde.

Amidst fan displeasure, victory in the Copa del Rey would have helped cool off some the heat on the former Athletic Bilbao coach, but reprieve was not to come, as Valencia denied him the victory and his position would hardly be helped by his strange choices in the match.

He chose to start an underperforming Philippe Coutinho who only recently returned to full fitness while playing Sergi Roberto in an unfamiliar role on the right of attack at the expense of Malcom and benched Arturo Vidal.

The folly of his decision was exposed, as Valencia raced into a 2-0 lead at the break, with Valverde calling on Vidal and Malcom at the start of the second half to little avail.

Given the precarious nature of his position as Barcelona head coach, Ernesto Valverde needs every lifeline he can grab hold of, but with defeat in the Copa del Rey, the pressure is bound to increase on him and he could well find his position come under scrutiny in the coming weeks.

#2 Barcelona fails to make history

Barcelona were looking to make it five consecutive Copa del Rey trophies

Barcelona are record Copa del Rey champions, having triumphed in Spain's oldest club competition a total of 30 times.

They also achieved the distinction of being the first side to make it to six consecutive finals and have won the last four in succession.

The latter is a record the jointly share with their arch-rivals Real Madrid who won four on the bounce in the early years of the competition at the start of the 20th century as well as Athletic Bilbao who did so in the 1930s.

The Blaugrana would have been looking to make it five on the trot to have full ownership of the record, but this proved not to be the case, as Valencia failed to get the memo, ruining their party to ensure the record for most consecutive Copa del Rey triumphs is set to remain intact for at least the next five years.

#1 Valencia shows great resilience to hold on for victory

Valencia have won their first trophy in 11 years

Given their status as underdogs prior to the match, not many would have given Valencia much of a chance of getting anything from the match, but in a rallying show of self-belief, Los Che put up a resilient performance to shame the naysayers and condemn Barcelona to defeat.

Kevin Gameiro put his side ahead in the 21st minute with a calm finish to send Valencia fans into delirium and just 12 minutes later, their joy was doubled as Rodrigo put them two goals up.

Given the superiority of Barcelona's players, it was expected that a full assault would be launched as they sought a way back in the match and that proved to be the case, as bombardments of attack after attack were launched at the Valencia goal as Valverde's men sought to force the issue.

In total, Barcelona had 72% possession and fired 18 shots at the Valencia goal, with seven of those being on target but Valencia produced a defensive masterclass, blocking 11 shots to ensure that just one goal went past Juanme in their goal.

Despite the presence of illustrious names like Messi and Coutinho on the field, Valencia were resolute in their performance and pulled off a shock to win their first title in over a decade.