A season of highs and lows

A season of highs and lows

Three titles but fourth in the Asobal Liga, Barça Cifec ended the 2006-07 season with ups and downs. The Copa del Rey was the height of the season, however, Xesco Espar’s men did not live up to expectations in the Champions League.

Barça Cifec ended the season with three titles (Copa del Rey, Asobal Super cup and the Pyrenees Cup), but the sensation of not achieving in the two most important competitions of the year, the Asobal Liga and the Champions League. Fourth place in the Asobal liga and elimination in the quarter finals of the champions league were two lingering clouds over an irregular season.

Pre-season titles

The blaugrana gave a good image during pre-season and won two titles prior to the start of the Liga campaign. They won the Fraikin Granolloers in the Pyrenees league, with a comfortable victory (34-21). This lead to Xesco Espar picking up the second title in an exciting closely fought contest against Valldolid in the Asobal Super cup final (36-33).

The hurdles

The first hurdles encountered by Barça Cifec came near the beginning of the season when early games against Ademar and Valladolid resulted in defeat and therefore complicating the start of the campaign. Xespar’s men had to hope their rivals encountered their own stumbling blocks.

The hardest hit came in the Catalan derby defeat. The blaugrana lost to Granollers in the tenth game of the season by 1 goal (27-26). Therefore, Barça were carrying with them three defeats before coming up against the top teams of Portland and Ciudad Real. Defeat to Portland took the wind out of Barça’s title hopes as the leaders stretched their lead to seven points. The draw against Ciudad Real ended the first half of the season with the blaugrana in fourth position. A few days later and Barça saw yet another title slip away, this time it was the Copa Asobal. Therefore, all attention had to focus towards the Champions League.

Good second half to the season

2007 saw Barça Cifec produce displays more accustomed to being seen. Barça climbed to third spot—giving them the chance to play in Champions League. March, however, saw their elimination from the Champions League following defeat at the hands of Flensburg. The defeat was hard to handle as this ended Barça’s hopes of winning a major title. The Copa del Rey, achieved in Altea, offered consolation and boosted moral in the team.

Battle for third

In the final straight of the season, Barça Cifec was in third spot in the Liga, however, defeat to Cai Aragon allowed Ademar to overtake Barça. The defeat put Barça on the back foot as they had to hope that the team from Leon tripped up—this was not to be, and with defeat against Ciudad Real, Barça’s irregular season came to an end.