Real Madrid claimed their first trophy under Jose Mourinho when Cristiano Ronaldo's dramatic extra-time winner secured a 1-0 victory over Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey tonight.

With penalties looming in a tense and occasionally brutal clash at Valencia's Mestalla stadium, the Portuguese forward leaped to crash home a 103rd-minute header from Angel Di Maria's superb deep centre. Di Maria was later sent off after receiving his second yellow card just before the end of extra time.

Real's first domestic cup since 1993 came in Mourinho's debut season since joining from Internazionale, denying Pep Guardiola's Barca, who lead La Liga by eight points, the chance of a second treble in three seasons. The Spanish giants are also due to meet in the two-legged Champions League semi-final.

"It's a very important title; we're going to enjoy it," Ronaldo said. "Mourinho has done a good job. He's helped us a lot. Barca played very well but, as you know, the team who scores wins."

In a festive atmosphere in the Mediterranean port city, one half of the 55,000-capacity stadium was decked out in the claret and blue of Barca and draped in Catalan flags, while the other was a sea of white flecked with the yellow and gold of Spain.

Barca had six players from Spain's World Cup-winning squad in their starting 11 and Real four but any memories of shared glory in South Africa seemed far from their minds in an attritional first half-hour. Real successfully closed down Barca's creative midfielders and pacy forwards and had much the better of the first half before Pepe crashed a header off the post in the 44th minute with the goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto well beaten.

Barca had failed to muster a shot on target but the second period was a different story and they dominated possession, Andres Iniesta and Pedro forcing fine saves from Iker Casillas.

However, even Lionel Messi was unable to break the deadlock and Ronaldo almost put Real ahead when he sped on to Xabi Alonso's pass in the eighth minute of extra time but his arrowed drive whistled wide. He made no mistake five minutes later and his powerful header sent the white half of the stadium into raptures and had them singing Mourinho's name long after the Barca fans had trooped dejectedly into the night.