Barça did it again. Sponsored by an excellent result in Paris (22-30) and ratified by another victory at the Palau (), Carlos Ortega’s team beat PSG in the quarterfinals and will return for the sixth consecutive time to the Final Four of the EHF Champions League, the laurel that remains – in addition to the Copa del Rey – to have a pristine season, to take all the possible titles of the course in the bag, since the Super Cup of Catalonia has already been won, the Iberian Super Cup and the Spanish Cup, also in the Asobal League.
Before the match began, the Palau burst into cheers and applause for Nikola Karbatic, who left a deep mark on the club even though he only played two seasons (from 2013 to 2015), a French and universal player who marked an era in 40 for 20 and that he will retire after the Games this summer. But that was the only concession from the Barça fans, who, in permanent boiling, as they always do when the match deserves it, tried to feed and encourage their players. The answer was given immediately, as Barça, encouraged by captain Dika Mem – a Parisian who rejected PSG’s offer because he did not have a project like the Blaugrana – and his cannonballs, soon explained to the rival that the night would be for Barça, that an eight-goal advantage was too much of an advantage to lose.
PSG tried to play with speed, always with Prandi’s arm as a resource, but there is no one who beats Barça, happy for the street runner, for the you see that I come back faster. Thus, one stop was enough – and there were many, the wall made of hands and feet – by Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas to jump on the counter, to play a handball on the tackle where Janc acted as a stiletto. Show and confetti that made it 17-12 at the intermission.
Barça slowed down a bit after the break, also ignored by goalkeeper Jannick Green. But when PSG approached (20-17), the Barça team recovered the leg recipe for I love you, hypersonic races with Luis Frade as a solution, turning everything he touched into gold. Something similar to Mem, unleashed, lashes everywhere, fond of his feet. Barça ran, the Palau enjoyed and Paris Saint-Germain fell, who did not throw in the towel and tried to make a difference with the Barça coach’s change wheel, who gave minutes to the less common because the pass was in the bag. But not even with those. Barça, who were left without Pol Valera – teammates took him off the court after twisting his knee – explained that they have no rival, not even in Europe at the moment.
Barça is once again in the Final Four, a title that will be settled on June 8 and 9, an illusion that could be the twelfth Barça win in the competition. That trophy that they lost in the previous season, before time and in the semifinal, against the German Magdeburg in a calamitous penalty shootout. Just the luck that did give him glory two seasons ago, then against Polish Kielce. Now, in the absence of a draw, they will face Danish Aalborg – they beat Fàbregas’ Hungarian Veszprém by surprise -, Magdeburg and German Kiel. Cologne awaits you.
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