FCBARCELONA.CAT

01.03.2008 18:21

One foot in the semi-finals (27-32)

Verònica Díez

Barça has beaten Celje by 32 to 27. With this victory the blue and reds strengthen their lead to six points in their group. Kaspar Hvidt and Laszlo Nagy were the real stars of the game.

F.C Barcelona has managed to end the unbeaten run of the Slovenian side at home.
Neither the spirit of revenge nor the advantage of the court or even the fact that the home team needed the victory to avoid saying goodbye to the semi-finals, they couldn’t deal with the Barcelona boys. Cadenas’s men returned to outstanding form in defense and in the goal. Moreover the work on counter-attacks also gave Barça some great goals.

The good defence continues

The aggressive defence of the blue and red team again marked the first 30 minutes of the game. The duo of Xepkin and Nagy were determinant in the 6-0 for Manolo Cadenas. The Hungarian didn’t hold back in attack and closed the first half with five goals. Celje never looked comfortable in attack, and it was the wall made by Barcelona that left them no options. The Slovenians opted to shoot from their first line. Kasper made things even more difficult for them, and the Dane was again outstanding in goal.

Barcelona scored the first goal at the hands of Nagy. The blue and reds gradually extended their lead. One partial with 0-4 on the score put Barça ahead of Celje by seven goals (3-10). The Slovenians turned it round on Cadenas’s men seven minutes later, but could only pull back to 9-12. The first half ended 12-15.

Barça silence the opposition fans

In the second half Barça silenced the Celje fans with their good play. The home team came out on the court stronger, knowing that there was only half an hour to resolve the game and not miss the semi-finals. But the intensity of their game lasted very little. The blue and reds were clearly the superior team. Albert Rocas scored to make it 18-26 (44’) which was the greatest point difference achieved by Barça in the game. Kasper remained determinate in goals. His teammate Laszlo Nagy also had a great impact on the second half and broke his own record of goals in European competitions, which were seven goals (8). The physical exertion took hold of Celje, who were incapable of coming close to Cadenas on the scoreboard. The game ended with the score at 27-32