Barça took revenge for the disappointment of last season by beating the reigning European Champions in their own back yard. This was a great win at the imposing Sparkassen Arena, achieved through hard work and collective effort and the team fully deserve their place in the Final Four.

After a near perfect first half, it was clear that Barça were on course for a historic win. From the opening goal by Noddesbo, Pascual’s team showed that they had not come into the game to sit on their first leg lead, choking service to the German’s playmaker Ahlm and his wide men, only the powerful front line of Jicha and Ilic troubled the visitors.

Keeper Saric chipped in with three great saves on the run to help Barça open up a 6-9 lead early on and with Noddesbo continuing to dominate the German defence, that grew to 10-15, before the host managed to claw back to 15-19 at the break. Not even Kiel’s excellent keeper Omeyer (who made five stops in the first half) could keep out Barça’s precision attacks.

Kiel swap keepers

That half time lead was in truth much less than Barça’s domination deserved, but they opened it to 8 goals at the start of the second. Kiel coach Alfred Gislasson called a desperate time out and replaced the shell shocked Omeyer for Palicki, as he desperately sought an answer to Barça’s great play. The home crowd too were growing restless and beginning to think the unthinkable –their team might be on their way out.

Kiel made one great effort, with two quick goals, and the fans roared their support, but Barça kept their cool and a lovely chipped goal from Entrerríos calmed their nerves. The Germans had upped their game though and Palicki was proving much more difficult to beat. With 20 minutes left to play, the scores sat at 20-25 and the pressure was mounting.

Pascual’s team again put a brake on the hosts’ progress though and kept their 5 point lead at 22-27 and a great stop from Saric plus good work from Juanin and two goals from Víctor Tomás seemed to have sentenced the tie at 24-32. Although the European Champions cut that lead down in the final minutes, nothing was going to stop Barça Borges from going into the Final Four.