Rey Ronaldo

Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 1-0 after extra time at the Mestalla in Valencia to win the Copa Del Rey for the 18th time.

After the draw that was played out at the Bernabéu at the weekend, it was expected that this game would be a lot more exciting as there was a lot more at stake. It seemed that Madrid had accepted that the title was Barcelona's before a ball was kicked at the weekend but this was the first chance of the season to win some silverware and silence the critics, who had recently turned on a defensive-minded José Mourinho.

What was served up, however, was another poor match. Not that the thousands of Madridistas will care.

Ronaldo's header proved to be the winning goal

Containing Barcelona appears to be José Mourinho's gameplan. And it works just as well with Real Madrid as it did with Internazionale.

In the first half Barcelona didn't have a sniff as Madrid were very compact in their own half, harassing the Barcelona players and not giving them time and space on the ball though the movement from the Catalans was virtually non-existant. A few players seem to be running on empty after a long, hard season competing on all fronts.

Madrid, inversely, were a lot sharper and first to the loose balls which gave them the chance to send Ronaldo away over the top - their only hope from their tactical set-up was to hit Barcelona on the break with the pace of Ronaldo and Di Maria.

For all of the tiki-taka from Barcelona there were no signs of any potential penetration of the Madrid backline and it was Los Blancos who came closest to scoring in the first half; Pepe's header crashing off the post with stand-in goalkeeper Pinto stranded and Mascherano clearing from inside his own six-yard box when Ronaldo had the first real opportunity of the game.

Barcelona didn't test Iker Casillas at all in the first 45 minutes - the seriously off-form David Villa, who hasn't scored in 11 games now, was anonymous and looked like a shadow of the player purchased from Valencia before the World Cup last Summer.

David Villa has now gone 10 games without scoring

Guardiola must have had serious words at half-time because Barcelona came out playing like a completely different team. They stepped it up a notch and Messi began to find space where he could start to cause trouble to the Madrid defence. Casillas was finally tested as Barcelona began to pepper his goal with shots; Iniesta and Pedro went closest with the latter scoring but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Real pushed forward in search of a winner, Ronaldo looked set to score but was denied by a brilliant tackle from Dani Alves and Angel Di Maria's deflected effort was palmed over the bar by Pinto with minutes of normal time remaining. Neither side could find a breakthrough which meant 30 minutes of extra time would follow and eventually Madrid struck in the 102nd minute.

Good build-up play down the left-hand side between Marcelo and Di Maria set the Argentine winger away and his pin-point cross found Ronaldo, who crashed his header beyond the despairing dive of Pinto to put Madrid within 20 minutes of a first trophy since 2008 and a first Copa Del Rey triumph since 1993.

Di Maria saw red for a second yellow card, making sure that a team managed by Mourinho didn't make it through to the end of the game with the full compliment of players again, as time ticked away.

This was Madrid's first trophy since 2008 and their first Copa Del Rey win in 18 years.

Barca pressed for an equaliser but they could not break down a stubborn Madrid rearguard, meaning Los Blancos defeated their arch-enemies in a foul-ridden game to give José Mourinho tangible reward for his efforts in his first season in charge at the Bernabéu. The 'Special One' has now won a trophy every season since 2003 with four different clubs: Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Madrid.

The victory was Real Madrid's first over Barcelona since 2008 and sets things up very nicely for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final which is to be played on 27th April at the Bernabéu.

José Mourinho has his way of playing against Barcelona and it is clearly effective. The Catalans looked frustrated at times last night and don't seem to have an answer to the questions Madrid currently pose. A sign, perhaps, that the balance of power may start to swing back towards the most decorated club in the history of Spanish football.

Wembley awaits the winners of the Champions League semi-final.

The league may be Barca's and the Cup Madrid's but the real fight starts now. Madrid's obsession with the Champions League is not as discreet as they'd like it to be and Mourinho's stranglehold on the tournament leaves them in good stead to go through to the final at Wembley.

As we sit half-way through the war, looking at the way the two games have gone so far I don't think it would be beyond exaggeration to call the 5-0 Barcelona win in November a fluke result. Mourinho has proved himself, again, to be a master tactician and I'd suggest he got his tactics horribly wrong at the Camp Nou. Now he knows Madrid have what it takes to beat Barcelona and the players know they have what it takes, I think the next two games will go in Madrid's favour as they now have the psychological edge.

And, should they make it to the Wembley final with Manchester United, what price a Ronaldo winner?