Champions League
Handball
Disappointing outcome in the semifinals
Sports Area
54
FC Barcelona was unable to make it to the final of the Champions League by being cruelly knocked out by Flensburg. Xavi Pascual’s team finished leaders of their group with a magnificent score of eight victories, one draw and just a single defeat on the last day. At the round-of-sixteen Barça knocked out the Danish Aalborg by comfortably winning both matches. In the quarterfinals, Barça were the stars of an epic comeback against Rhein Neckar Löwen. The Germans had won the first match 38-31, but the magic of the Palau, goals by Karabatic, saves by Sterbik and tremendous courage by Víctor Tomàs and determination by the whole team paid off. The final score of 31-24, due to the double value of the goals in the away court, put them through to the Final Four in Cologne once again. The rivals at the semifinals were El Flensburg. After a very close first half, the German team managed a three goal lead at the start of the second half but Barça, with a splendid Saric, reacted well and a partial of 8-1 turned the match around. Barça had half a foot in the final when, with just eight minutes to go and winning 32-26, they suffered an inexplicable collapse and a bad partial score of 0-6 that meant extra time. The extra time started evenly and even though Karabatic had a last shot at victory, the match ended in a draw at 36. A place in the final was decided on penalties, in which Karabatic missed his shot and the Germans managed all five. With no time to digest the defeat, Barça played the match for third and fourth place, in which they beat Veszprem by 26-25. Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Round-of-sixteen Round-of-sixteen Quarter-finals Quarter-finals Semifinals 3rd and 4th place
Date 21.09.13 28.09.13 12.10.13 20.10.13 14.11.13 23.11.13 30.11.13 08.02.14 15.02.14 23.02.14 23.03.14 29.03.14 20.04.14 26.04.14 31.05.14 01.06.14
Match HC Vardar PRO - FC Barcelona FC Barcelona - Wacker Thun FC Barcelona - HC Metalurg Skopje París Saint-Germain Handball - FC Barcelona HC Dinamo Minsk - FC Barcelona FC Barcelona - HC Dinamo Minsk FC Barcelona - HC Vardar PRO Wacker Thun - FC Barcelona FC Barcelona - París Saint-Germain Handball HC Metalurg Skopje - FC Barcelona Aalborg - FC Barcelona FC Barcelona - Aalborg Rhein Neckar Löwen - FC Barcelona FC Barcelona - Rhein Neckar Löwen FC Barcelona - SG Flensburg-Handewitt FC Barcelona - MKB-MVM Veszprém
Result 29-29 45-26 35-17 29-33 25-35 35-25 30-23 23-39 38-28 31-29 22-29 31-20 38-31 31-24 39-41 26-25