He barca He took the roller in the final stretch of the first half with a 7-0 run to leave sentenced the final of the Copa del Rey This Sunday in Santander against BM Logroño La Rioja (34-23) and win the title for the tenth consecutive edition and 27th overallcompleting a spectacular streak of ten years without losing a domestic title in any competition.
Just four days before the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on the Danish GOG court, the team led by Carlos Ortega adds a new title in a season in which they have already won the ASOBAL Plenitude League, the ASOBAL Cup, the Iberian Super Cup and the Catalan Super Cup.
After his ephemeral return in the semifinal against ABANCA Ademar, the Brazilian Haniel Langaro fell off the list (he was in charge of lifting the Cup in a beautiful gesture from his teammates) along with Artur Parera, while the Catalan central defender Pol Valera and the Portuguese pivot Luís Frade, a player whose role will multiply next season without Ludovic Fàbregas (he has signed for the Hungarian Veszprém).
And it took Barça a quarter of a game to begin to impose its law, just as it had happened on Friday in the quarterfinals against Bathco Torrelavega and on Saturday in the semifinals against ABANCA Ademar. Besides, the La Rioja team began attacking seven against six and their good circulation with special mention for the loanee Juan Palomino allowed them to maintain equality on the brink of 10′ (6-6).
The Barça defense sank excessively before the attacking superiority until a penalty converted by David Cadarso (11-9, min. 15:06) gave way to a spectacular 7-0 run led by an immense Fàbregas and that was also based on the stops of Emil Nielsen and a stony defensive ‘center’ with the Frenchman, Jonathan Carlsbogard and the ‘marshal’ Thuagus Petrus.
In the more than seven minutes that BM Logroño went without scoring, they faced an adverse 18-9 with a goal from Carlsbogard that forced Miguel Ángel Velasco to stop the game after conceding six goals from empty nets up to that moment and his team achieved weather the storm a bit to go down 20-13.
Barça recovered its best line in the first phase of the restart with a sensational Blaz Janc who only needs to play goalkeeper and for the first time he was 11 goals up (28-17, min. 43:23) after two goals from Aleix Gómez, the first of them in a two for two that he set up with the Slovenian in a beautiful action more typical of basketball.
From there, Carlos Ortega used his intelligence and gave rest to some of his most important pieces such as Dika Mem, the reborn Luka Cindric, Hampus Wanne and in the final stretch Carlsbogard in defense thinking that this Thursday we must give the do of chest on the GOG court in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals with the return seven days later at the Palau.
With these premises, the The last few minutes were more like a party in the stands as Barça got closer to a cup title that they ended up winning with enormous authority. by 34-23 with Emil Nielsen as MVP.
Data sheet:
34 – Barcelona (20+14): Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas (p) and Emil Nielsen (p); Valera (), Carlsbogard (1), Dika Mem (3), Wanne (1), Janc (4), N’Guessan (3), Aleix Gómez (5, 1p), Petrus (), Soler (), Cindric ( 2), Makuc (4), Richardson (2), Fabregas (5) and Frade (4).
23 – BM Logroño La Rioja (13+10): Jorge Pérez (p), Markelau (p), Javier Romeo (p); Preciado (2), El Korchi (1), Rubiño (3), Costa (1), Javier Rodríguez (1), Eduardo Ortiz (2), Javi García (2), David Cadarso (2p), Palomino (3), Eduardo Cadarso (3) and Keita (3).
Scoreboard every five minutes: 3-2, 7-6, 11-9, 17-9, 18-10, 20-13 -rest-; 23-14, 25-16, 28-18, 29-19, 31-20 and 34-23 (final).
Referees: Jorge Escudero and Jesus Escudero. Petrus and Richardson, from Barcelona, and Keita, from BM Logroño La Rioja, were excluded for two minutes. They showed Rubiño, from BM Logroño La Rioja, a yellow card.
Incidents: Final of the Copa del Rey played at the Palacio de los Deportes de Santander in front of some 2,500 spectators.