Barça returns once again to the Lanxess Arena in Cologne (Germany), which has been the headquarters of the final four for the last twelve years. Since then, Barça handball has managed to qualify in ten of the thirteen editions of the format. It is the team that has arrived most often since the creation of this format in 2010 with permanent headquarters. In these participations, the Barça team has managed to lift the trophy three times, the last one last year. He was the tenth Champions of the section. In the farewell season of Xavi Pascual, the Barça team played a competition that was close to perfection: twenty victories in twenty matches, after being first in the group stage, beating the Norwegian Elverum in the round of 16, the Belarusian Meshkov Brest in the quarterfinals and French Nantes and Danish Aalborg in the final four.
The Barça team is now in Cologne and can boast of having the best team in defense of the four finalists. In statements prior to the final four, coach Carlos Ortega, who came from the hand of Joan Laporta and his sports adviser, Enric Masip, made it clear that one of the keys to winning the title will be success both in goal and in defensive tasks . “We arrived at the right time. I see the team with strength and desire and I think we can compete against any rival,” said the experienced Barça coach.
Experience on the bench
As Barça coach, Carlos Ortega will live his first final four. He had previously been with the Hungarian Veszprém twice (in 2014 and 2015, when he lost, precisely, the final against Barça). During his time as a Barça player, he won up to six Champions League titles. Now, from the bench, he is preparing a team that will face a weak Kiel. The dangerous German team will not be able to count on either Sagosen or Pekeler, two very important casualties for the German team. But Ortega remains cautious: “Kiel, with the casualties, can be a wounded lion. It is a great rival, with a different attack from other teams, and it is a difficult set to defend.”
The main goal of Barça’s handball section is to reach the final four. “The season has been planned to get here at our best. We are fine and we have all the equipment available. This has been very difficult, after a long season,” said the Barça coach. The Catalan team arrives at the event two weeks after winning the Asobal Cup against Bidasoa Irun (29-37) and thus adding the seventeenth cup in its history, the eleventh in a row. He will now have the challenge of lifting the Champions League for two consecutive years, a goal that no one has ever achieved since the final four is disputed in Cologne.
