The 2009 Copa del Rey final was the 107th final of the Spanish cup competition, the
Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The final was played at
Mestalla in
Valencia on 13 May 2009. The match was won by
FC Barcelona, who beat
Athletic Bilbao 4–1. This was the first title of Barcelona that year, before winning
La Liga and the
UEFA Champions League to earn their first
treble.
The pre-match playing of
Spain's national anthem prompted widespread booing from
Catalan nationalist fans of FC Barcelona and
Basque nationalist fans of Athletic Bilbao.
Televisión Española (TVE) cut away from its coverage as soon as this started and consequently did not show the playing of the anthem live, instead showing it at half time with the booing edited out. Afterwards, its director Javier Pons apologised for the "mistake", and Julian Reyes, the head of sports news, was fired as a result of the censorship.[2]