Barcelona on Thursday evening secured their sixth title at the Men’s Club World Cup, confirming their status as the most decorated team in history, after a dramatic 31-30 win against Veszprém HC, the previous winners after 80 minutes of intense drama.
For the first 16 minutes of the match, the Hungarians relied heavily on left wing Hugo Descat and right back Nedim Remili, who scored all of their team’s five goals. However, the French pair struggled to make an impact against Emil Nielsen, who will join Veszprém next summer, and made six saves, for a 54% save efficiency.
With Barcelona constantly rotating in attack, with both Dika Mem and Blaz Janc acting as playmakers, the Catalonians were leading by the slightest of margins, 13-12, as the first half came to an end with left wing Ian Barrufet as the team’s top scorer, with five goals.
Barcelona needed more than three minutes and 30 seconds to score the first goal of the second half, and by that time, the title holders were already up by one goal, 14-13.
Barcelona scored only eight goals in the second half, as Veszprém’s defence stood tall, with the score deadlocked, 21-21, after 60 minutes, which forced the game into overtime, not an unlikely scenario as the last three finals of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, with both Veszprém and Barcelona part of them once, have gone to overtime.
In overtime, it was still anyone’s match, as the score was 29-29 with two minutes to go.
Veszprém had the chance to take the win in the last seconds, but a turnover cost them the title, as they were punished by Aleix Gomez Abello, who scored the decisive goal with 10 seconds left.
The big hero of the night was, however, Emil Nielsen, who recorded 27 saves, for an outstanding 49% saving efficiency over 80 minutes.
