In a country dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, the Copa del Rey is the pinnacle for almost every other team.
That is unless you’re the basket case called Valencia, who fired their coach soon after a rare high in 2019.
The former Spanish giants started the millennium as one of the best teams in the world with two Champions League finals under Hector Cuper and then two LaLiga crowns with Rafael Benitez.
Yet the team were crushed by the 2008 global financial crisis with their partially built new stadium left to crumble and were looking for saviours when up turned Peter Lim.
The Singaporean billionaire arrived full of promise in 2014 and five years later achieved his greatest success to date when coach Marcelino Garcia Toral secured the club’s one and only trophy since 2008.
A Copa del Rey final win over Lionel Messi’s Barcelona at Real Betis’ Benito Villamarin suggested that Valencia were finally back on the up, not least because they’d also secured fourth-place and Champions League football for the following year.
Yet just weeks later at the start of the new campaign he was fired before taking on Frank Lampard’s Chelsea in Europe.
The decision was dumbfounding, and fans vented their anger before being joined by key defender and 32-time Argentina international Ezequiel Garay.
“After many years with you (not just in Valencia), I know perfectly well what you’re like, both professionally and personally,” the former Real Madrid man wrote on Instagram under a picture of Marcelino.
“I’m not the only one who agrees with that; you’ve proven it to everyone. Because the path is proven by walking, and you’ve followed a clean, transparent, and healthy path. You’re leaving through the front door, mister.
“Whoever made this decision didn’t just take you down; they took down an entire team and fans, something I say loud and clear: IT’S NOT FAIR.”
Multiple reports at the time suggested jealousy was afoot, with Lim annoyed at Marcelino taking the credit for what he believed was his success.
But as the years since proved, it didn’t really have much to do at all with the former Salford City co-owner, as Valencia have been in constant disarray and fans regularly protest his ownership.
On top of that, Marcelino would prove his worth again with a Spanish Super Cup at Athletic Bilbao on top of two more Copa finals.
Yet further down the line, he suggested another reason for Lim’s bizarre firing.
“I am absolutely convinced that winning the Copa del Rey was the detonator for this situation,” he claimed in an interview.
“Previously we received messages that we should disregard la Copa but the fans, the entire squad, and the coaching staff wanted to win it.”
He added: “Everything was on the up, but you have an owner who can destroy, and did destroy, a team in world record time.
“It made no sense to destroy that project. Players want to win and they were happy with the way things were and felt confident taking on anybody. I feel a lot of gratitude towards those players who made me a cup winner.
“They couldn’t believe what was happening, we all thought that team was going to get even better.
“The supporters wanted to fight for it, as did the footballers, and they went on to do that. The coaching staff wanted to fight and win the Copa.
“Winning the trophy was the cause of this entire situation, who would imagine that?”
Barcelona’s Hansi Flick certainly can’t, but his rival for Saturday’s final, Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti, has another fear – lose and you’re gone.
