Barcelona won its twenty-eighth Copa del Rey champion title this Sunday, the eleventh in a row, by defeating Bathco Torrelavega by 23-36 in a second half in which the team coached by Antonio Carlos Ortega was a roller against a rival that nothing else raised opposition in the first half. Even so, the Cantabrian team has had a very worthy final phase of the cup tournament and, due to its status as finalist, has earned the right to play in European competition next season. The Blaugranas beat Frigoríficos Cangas del Morrazo in the quarterfinals (42-26) and Bidasoa Irún in the semifinals (28-32) in a tournament that was played for the first time in Jaén, at the Olivo Arena.
In the grand final, Barça waited for the right moment, specifically the second half, to decide the duel with a forceful defense and the saves of Emil Nielsen, who only conceded 8 goals in 30 minutes. Added to this was a devastating attack, led by Frenchman Dika Mem and Aitor Ariño, who scored 8 and 7 goals, respectively.
Bathco Torrelavega, the revelation of the tournament by eliminating Rebi Cuenca and BM Logroño in matches decided by the minimum (30-31 and 28-29, respectively), held on in the first half thanks to the stops of the Montenegrin Mile Mijuskovic and the goals of Javier Muñoz, who was his team’s top scorer with six goals in 60 minutes. But in the second period he could not beat the Barça player, who this season, once again, has won all the national titles and now. The challenge is the Champions League, which will be played next weekend in Cologne (Germany).
Nielsen emerged with his saves and Dika Mem and Aitor Ariño found the way to overcome a weak Cantabrian defense. A partial score of 2-7 in the 40th minute (17-26) decided the final, but ten minutes later the Barcelona fans, unstoppable, increased their lead to 12 points (19-31) to finish the match with a resounding 23 -36.
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