FC Barcelona ease into VELUX EHF FINAL4 with record win
FC Barcelona ease into VELUX EHF FINAL4 with record win
If anyone thought that Barcelona’s 31:11 win away against Aalborg Handball in the Last 16 was going to be the Spanish top team’s biggest win in the VELUX EHF Champions League this season, they were proved wrong on Saturday evening.
Barcelona presented absolutely no gifts for their former star player Veselin Vujovic who returned to the Palau Blaugrana as coach for Zagreb; the Spanish side crushed their opponents by no less than 22 goals.
This huge defeat for Zagreb is the clubs worst defeat in the VELUX EHF Champions League history.
VELUX EHF Champions League Quarter-final Leg 2
FC Barcelona (ESP) vs HC PPD Zagreb (CRO) 43:21 (23:10)
First leg 25:23. Agg. 68:44, Barcelona qualify for the VELUX EHF FINAL4
Veselin Vujovic celebrated many good days as a back court player with FC Barcelona in his active days.
However, the former Yugoslavian international’s return to the Palau Blaugrana Saturday will be one he will want to forget.
His team had absolutely no chance against Barcelona who simply played a perfect match on a very high level, and who were superior to the opponents in all aspects of the game.
From the very start, Barcelona made it clear that they were going to make it to Cologne for the fifth time.
The home team went up 5:1 very quickly, and that lead was soon extended to 12:3.
Zagreb tried a 6-0, a 3-2-1 and a 5-1 formation in their defence but they were run over by a highly motivated Barcelona team who made practically no mistakes and who were leading by 13 goals already at half-time.
After this demonstration of power in the first 30 minutes, the second half was obviously a formality, in which Barcelona coach Xavi Pascual gave match time to his entire bench.
Still Barcelona continued to increase their lead to 22 goals at the final whistle, which made them the first team to qualify for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 this season.
With nine goals to his name on the night, not only did Lazarov come away as the top scorer but he has also overtaken Veszprem's Momir Ilic as the top scorer of the tournament thus far netting one goal shy of 100.
