Spanish super team Real Madrid waited 18 years to win the Copa del Rey trophy, only to watch it get crushed under the team bus.  I can't make this up.  This is something that could only happen to a soccer team.  When hockey players win the Stanley Cup, they guard that thing like it's their first born child.

Soccer confuses me because it seems like the super teams are always playing for some big championship or trophy.  Call me a neophyte, but American professional sports are cut and dry.  In the NFL you play for the Super Bowl, MLB the World Series and so on.

After doing some minimal research I have learned the Copa del Ray is a tournament for Spanish soccer teams.  I will assume Spanish teams covet this trophy the most, because of the immense amount of national pride on the line.  Like the Yankees in baseball, FC Barcelona has dominated this tournament, winning it 25 times since it's inception in 1902.  Real Madrid are the Red Sox of the league.  They have won the cup 18 times, the last in 1993.

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Real Madrid snapped their 18 year drought on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over Barcelona.  This is hardly newsworthy in the U. S. except what happened next.  Defender Sergio Ramos was holding the cup on top of the bus in celebration when it slipped out of his grasp and the driver proceeded to roll the front right tire over the trophy.  The beautiful hundred year old cup was smashed into pieces.

Ramos promptly tweeted, "The whole thing about the cup was a misunderstanding, it didn't fall ... it jumped off when it reached Cibeles [the fountain in Madrid where the team celebrates its titles] and saw so many Madrid fans,"  A team spokesperson confirmed the cup is in terrible shape and must be repaired.

File this one under ONLY IN SOCCER!!

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