Barca’s double title win hailed in Spanish media

BARCELONA — Spain’s sports press hailed Barcelona on Monday after the La Liga champions beat Sevilla to lift the King’s Cup for the 28th time and clinch a second successive domestic double.

Goals from Jordi Alba and Neymar in extra-time gave their team a 2-0 triumph in Madrid’s Vicente Calderon Stadium on Sunday, eight days after they won La Liga for the sixth time in eight years.

Barcelona-based El Mundo Deportivo highlighted 10-man Barca’s impressive resilience after Javier Mascherano was sent off in the 36th minute,

They kept the score at 0-0 before Sevilla had Ever Banega dismissed in added time at the end of 90 minutes.

“Heroics!” the paper’s headline said. “A warrior Barca resist... to win the 28th Cup title.”

The Blaugrana were made to work hard to clinch their seventh domestic double.

“Barca proved they know how to suffer,” AS newspaper wrote on their front page.

Barca have amassed 28 titles since winning the Spanish Supercup in the 2005-06 campaign. That includes four European Cups, seven La Liga titles, four King’s Cup trophies, three FIFA Club World Cups, three European Super Cups and six Spanish Supercups.

EL Mundo Deportivo editor Santi Nolla applauded Barca in his column on Monday.

“This Barca, that accumulates 28 titles in the 21st century, never gave up. “Luis Enrique and this team have achieved seven titles out of nine in two years, which indicates that they continue to be the reference and the best in the world.”

Not since the 1952-53 campaign when Barca clinched the league and the King’s Cup, had a Spanish team managed to defend the domestic double, with Athletic Bilbao being the only other club alongside Barca to do so in the 1930s.

Sport, another Barcelona-based daily, lauded Barca’s achievement.

“Heroes!” screamed its headline. “Barcelona achieves a historic double after an epic exhibition.”

Barcelona did miss out on a second consecutive treble-winning campaign after losing to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals but Alba insisted that Barca had had a great season.

“You cannot always win three titles. Two is very good and we are thrilled,” he said.

Spain’s biggest-selling paper Marca’s front page included a photograph of Barca captain Andres Iniesta lifting the King’s Cup with King Felipe VI behind him.

“King Iniesta!,” screamed the headline.

Meanwhile, Luis Suarez’ participation in the Copa America Centenario is in doubt after the Uruguay striker left Spain’s Copa del Rey final with an apparent muscle injury and in tears on Sunday.

Suarez is expected to undergo tests to find out the extent of the right leg injury that forced him to limp off the pitch in the second half of the game against Sevilla at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid.

He was seen celebrating with the rest of his teammates after Barcelona won 2-0 in extra time to secure its second straight Copa title, but walked gingerly and at times still looked in pain.

On Twitter, Suarez showed optimism.

“Now we wait for the tests tomorrow,” he said. “I hope it’s nothing so I can be with my national team next week. Thanks for the support.”

Cameras showed the striker crying on the bench after being substituted, with his teammates comforting him. A few times he covered his head with his jersey, looking desolate.

Uruguay’s first Copa America game is on June 5 against Mexico. The 100th anniversary edition of the tournament will be held in the United States, the first edition staged outside South America.

The striker appeared to get hurt while going for a ball crossed to him inside the area early in the second half. He over-extended his right leg to try to reach the ball and immediately felt a strain on the back of his right leg.

He tried to continue for a bit but ended going to the ground and asked for medical assistance. Suarez walked off the pitch by himself in the 56th minute, very slowly and clearly in pain.

Barcelona was yet to provide any official information about the injury, only saying that it would be re-evaluated on Monday.

Suarez had been crucial to the team in the final stages of the season. He had scored 14 goals in the last five matches.

Suarez finished the season with 59 goals in all competitions and was the top scorer in the Spanish league with 40, five more than Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.