In April 1914, Madrid FC organized a football tournament to decide who would take the prize as their property, eleven silver cups donated by the widow of Espuñes.
[2] Even though every team had to play twice against every opponent, Madrid FC faced Atlético only once, on 19 April, ending in a 3–3 draw, with the second match not taking place as none could no longer reach the points of Gimnástica.
Even though the 1914 winners were promised to take the prize as their property, Madrid FC decided to conveniently change their own rules and appealed for a second edition in 1916, to which the FRC agreed, and thus the Copas Espuñes were once again organized, but the prize owners Gimnástica refused to participate in the tournament as the club considered the decision totally unfounded and unfair, and they were replaced by Racing de Madrid,[6] which at the time had a great team with the likes of Joaquín Pascual, Ezequiel Montero, Feliciano Rey, Antonio De Miguel, and Ricardo Álvarez.
[6] Atlético defeated Madrid in both confrontations (4–1 and 3–2), while Racing only won one, but then beat Atlético 2–1 in a highly controversial match, in which the referee Carlos Dieste, a Madrid player, gave three penalties to Racing; the first was saved by the athletic goalkeeper Luis Beguiristain, and although the referee had it repeated considering that the red-and-white players had not kept the regulatory distance, Beguiristain stopped it again.
[8] From that moment, at the slightest play that Racing made, the public asked for a penalty, and likewise, a few minutes later, the judge punished Athletic with another one, so Beguiristain crossed his arms and let the ball in.
[12] Once that match ended, the next one started, between Madrid FC and Atlético, with the former receiving a special ovation due to having won the Spanish Cup just five days prior.
[3][12][13] There were about five minutes left when Eduardo Teus, dislocated his right arm when he fell after stopping a shoot, so René Petit took his place and they finished the game with nine men.