Barça stormed the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris and put a foot and a half in their twelfth final four in Cologne. The Blaugrana team left the classification, for the sixth year in a row, among the four best teams in Europe very much on track after beating the almighty PSG 22-30 in a delicate second half in which they staged a spectacular comeback. The partial was explicit: 8-19 in the second 30 minutes.
A huge defense was joined by the differential contribution of Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas with 11 saves, the baton of the young Petar Cikusa (4) and the goals of Mem (7), Richardson (6) and Frade (6).
The best of a choral triumph, well led from the bench by a Carlos Ortega who calmed down and trusted the young people to revolutionize a game that was getting ugly in the first half, and in the experience of Pérez de Vargas, who replaced an uninspired Emil Nielsen (2 saves) on 16 minutes.
Barça arrived in Paris with doubts after the two consecutive defeats in the last two games of the group stage, against Magdeburg and Montpellier. Never in their entire history in the Champions League, 26 seasons, had they lost more than two matches in a row. PSG was a serious threat to extend the negative record, but above all to mortgage the classification for the final four. Barça’s purpose was to get a good result to decide at the Palau…
That’s how it seemed to happen after seeing the 14-11 break. A Barça that wasn’t playing badly in defense was a disaster in attack: they couldn’t do anything. He surprised at the start with Carlsbogard, Richardson in central and Mem in the first line. It didn’t work. Aleix Gómez’s 3-4 in the 9th minute was a mirage, because from there the Sabadell winger chained 4 errors in a row (2 penalties) and in parallel Barça fell apart at the same time as encouraged goalkeeper Palicka (9 saves in the first half). PSG trailed by 3 goals (12-9, 14-11 at half-time) and Ortega looked for the upset with the entry of Pérez de Vargas and the young Cikusa at center. He hit the key.
In the restart, Barça had a prodigious, wonderful reaction. With a 5:1 defense with Janc up front, with Cikusa directing the game, with Pérez de Vargas’ 11 saves and goals from Frade, Mem and Ariño, the Blaugrana side turned the game around. The partial says it all: 1-8 in the first 13 minutes, which took it to 16-19.
From there, Barça were unstoppable and PSG fell apart like a lump of sugar. Cikusa got his doctorate in the Champions League and Barça ended up with 8 goals in the bag for the return trip to the Palau. You can now get your tickets for Cologne.
