Real Betis won the Copa del Rey late on Saturday night.
Los Verdiblancos beat Valencia 5-4 on penalties at La Cartuja in the city of Seville after drawing 1-1 after extra-time.
Borja Iglesias has fired them into the lead in the eleventh minute only for Hugo Duro to equalise on the half-hour mark.
It was the first piece of silverware Betis have won since 2005, when they beat Osasuna at the Vicente Calderon in the Copa.
That season they also managed to finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League, something they’ve not managed since. Joaquin, Betis’s veteran skipper, was a part of that team.
And speaking to Marca, he made it clear he wants to repeat that history and pair their Copa success with a top-four finish.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men are still very much in the fight if an outside bet to gatecrash that top four and earn a place in Europe’s premier club competition.
They’re currently fifth in La Liga, four points behind Atletico Madrid in fourth and six behind third-placed Sevilla and second-placed Barcelona.
They have five games left to play; Getafe, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada and Real Madrid. Time will tell if they can get it done.
“We’ve already begun trying to wake up from this beautiful dream because on Monday we have another objective, which is to win at Getafe to continue pushing to play in the Champions League,” Joaquin said. “That would be the icing on the cake of this season.
“These have been long days, days of many emotions, of many tears of joy, of repeating in your head over and over again that moment in which Juan [Miranda] scores the last penalty, of celebrating with our people and of course raising the Copa to the Seville sky in front of all of Betis. That will go down in history and it was a special and beautiful moment.”
Joaquin also revealed what the King of Spain told him when he collected the trophy. “He told me: ‘Congratulations, you all deserve it and you even more so. I’m very happy for you. Enjoy it with your people.’ I was proud and privileged for his presence and I know he has Betico roots as his grandmother was a Betis supporter. But with the nerves and emotion I forgot to say it.”
