Cup finals are supposed to be the day the underdog gets to dream. Bilbao got roughly half an hour of one. By the 35th minute of Monday's ESP Cup final, in front of a near-capacity crowd of 53,245 packed into their own ground, Juanlux's side were three goals down and the trophy was already on its way back to the capital. Final score: Bilbao 0, Madrid White 3. It was a procession dressed up as a showpiece.

This was supposed to be the consolation of a long season for Bilbao. They finished the league campaign 12th — mid-table, 39 points adrift of the very team standing across the centre circle from them. The cup was their shot at silverware, and they had home advantage and a full house behind them. None of it mattered. Madrid White arrived as freshly crowned champions of Spain and played like a side that had no intention of sharing the stage.

Thirty-five minutes, three goals

The damage was done with brutal economy. Madrid White's Brazilian striker opened the scoring inside eight minutes. On 21, of all people, the Brazilian centre-half — back in the side just days after shaking off a knock — popped up to make it two. And on 35 the French forward, the most valuable man on the pitch at over 62 million SVC and rated as the best player in either squad, drilled home the third. Three goals, three different scorers, three different creators teeing them up, including the veteran Spanish playmaker who ran the game from the middle and the German centre-back overlapping from the back.

After that, Madrid White simply managed the night. Luka Modrić, pulling the strings in midfield, was withdrawn on the hour with the tie long settled — a champion's luxury. The numbers tell the story of total control without ever needing the ball: possession finished dead level at 50-50, yet Madrid White had 23 shots to Bilbao's 11, and 13 of them on target to four. That is not dominance of the ball; it is ruthlessness with it.

The keeper who kept it respectable

If there was a Bilbao hero, it was the man between the posts. Their Spanish goalkeeper made ten saves — ten — and walked off with a match rating most of his outfield teammates could only envy. Thirteen Madrid White efforts hit the target; three beat him. Do the arithmetic and you understand exactly how heavy this could have been. Without him, 0-3 becomes 0-6 and a humbling becomes a humiliation. There was little reward for it: Bilbao mustered four shots on target of their own, all comfortably gathered, and lost a midfielder to injury with a quarter of an hour left to round off a miserable evening.

The official man of the match, fittingly for a night built on a clean sheet, was Madrid White's Spanish left-back, rated a perfect ten by the engine — a defender honoured in a game his side won 3-0, which tells you everything about how little they conceded at the other end.

A double for Gevenito

For manager Gevenito, this completes the set. Madrid White had already wrapped up ESP Division 1 with 85 points from their 38 games — 25 wins, three defeats and a meanest-in-the-division 12 goals conceded — edging Madrid Red by three points in a title race that went to the wire. The cup makes it a domestic double, and it is not his first: Gevenito did the league-and-cup back in Season 1, and this is his second ESP Cup of the Soccerverse era. The clean sheet in the final was no accident; it was the signature of a team that defends for its life all season.

Even his rivals tipped the cap. As the season closed, Madrid Red boss TeteBarriero — the man Madrid White pipped to the league on the final stretch — sent his neighbour a message of respect.

Congratulations to my friend @Gevenito 🔥 🐐 Next season more and better.

Gevenito's reply was generous to a fallen rival, but the scoreboard from the final was anything but. Bilbao came to the biggest night of their season, filled their stadium, and were beaten before the interval. The dream lasted eight minutes. The double is done.