BarcelonaBarça lift the Handball Champions League again. At a real party in Cologne, the group led by Antonio Carlos Ortega celebrated on the track their talent and resilience with the second consecutive European title. The victory came on penalties after 70 minutes of maximum equality against Kielce. Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas stopped the third shot of the Poles, by Alex Dujshebaev, and Ludovic Fàbregas did not fail in the next attempt. With this Champions League, the Barça club already has two this year: futsal and handball.
Barça have jumped on the Lanxess Arena track in no hurry, but also without a break. He led the game, controlled the ball and advanced with a firm and determined step, subduing the rival goalkeeper, Andreas Wolff, in the first bars of the game to achieve a maximum advantage of three goals (10-7). Kielce reacted by cutting the score with a physical and hard game, but Barça did not fall into the trap. With the tie at 12 on the scoreboard, the match has started again. The forcefulness and aggressiveness of the Polish team has taken the Catalan team by storm at times.
Aleix Gómez was in charge of guiding and contemporizing Barça. The winger, a player trained at home, has been differential, the beacon that has guided the Catalans to the title, starting with his recital in the semifinals. His love affair with Barça began in the 2009/2010 season, coming from OAR Gràcia in Sabadell. During the 60 minutes of this final, the Vallès player was again key with ten goals.
With maximum equality on the scoreboard, the match has been decided in the small details. A huge Wolff under the posts gave Kielce wings in the second half, in which Barça suffered more than in the first to build collective plays. Those of Ortega de Pérez de Vargas were lucky, who emerged to maintain the equalizer in times of weakness. Five minutes from the end, the light was tied at 25.
Barça, however, wanted to rewrite history. It was not enough to reach the final. Your goal in this final four it was to return to Barcelona with the huge continental trophy for the second year in a row, something that had never happened since the tournament was settled in Cologne. The efforts of the whole season had to be rewarded. The team, which had suffered to be back at the Olympics of handball in a year of transition, was 30 seconds from the final whistle with a goal lead on the scoreboard. But a defensive pass allowed Karalek to equalize at the last second.
An unexpected extension
The overtime has been a pitcher of cold water for the Catalans. In the first five minutes of the first half, everything happened: eternal attacks, erratic defenses and goals that came in slow motion. When the referee blew the whistle for the break, Barça were ahead (30-29), but Kielce repeated the feat of regulation time. With the tie at 32, the fight went to the penalties.
From 7 meters, Barça has been just perfect. First Aleix and then Dika Mem and Richardsson sent the ball into the net, leaving the ground ready for a masterpiece by Pérez de Vargas. In front of Dujshebaev, a player he knows perfectly from the national team, the Barça captain made the goal very small and sent the ball bouncing in the stands with his knee. The final was in full swing and Fàbregas sealed the second consecutive Champions League. Cologne’s curse has long since disappeared.
