Barcelona beat Vardar to face Berlin for trophy in Doha

Barcelona or Berlin? On Monday 28 August the new IHF Super Globe record champion will be crowned at the Duhail Hall in Doha.

Both teams have won the trophy at the unofficial club world championship twice before. While the EHF Cup 2015 winners from Germany are aiming for their third straight victory, Barcelona won the competition in 2013 and 2014.

Füchse and Barcelona had quite different paths to the final. Berlin nearly stumbled in their quarter-final against Pan-American club champions Esporte Clube Pinheiros before beating the Brazilian side 33:31. And they blew away tournament hosts Al-Sadd from Doha 30:23 in the semi-final.

Barcelona breezed through their quarter-final with an 18-goal victory before playing a tough 60 minutes in the semi-final (32:29) against Vardar in a rematch of last season’s semi-final at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne.

Luka Cindric ended Barcelona’s final dream in Cologne with a buzzer-beating winner, and he was also top scorer for Vardar this time with seven goals. But the Catalan defence was more stable in Doha than in Cologne, and goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas had a brilliant amount of 16 saves.

Barcelona took an early 10:3 lead but, led by Cindric and Montenegrin shooter Vuko Borozan, Vardar reduced the gap goal by goal and levelled the score at 25:25 for the first time. But at 28:28, a 3:0 series provided Barcelona with the ticket to the final.

Vardar’s defeat meant that they became the next Champions League winners failing to take the Super Globe as well in the same year. THW Kiel were the last team to achieve that feat in 2011.

Berlin were dominant throughout the full 60 minutes of their semi-final against Al-Sadd, including former Barcelona goalkeeper Danijel Saric. Despite his 10 saves, the tournament host were chanceless.

On the other side, Füchse goalkeeper Silvio Heinevetter maintained his high level which had propelled the Foxes into the semi-finals.

Last season’s EHF Cup finalists were constantly ahead by at least three goals and decided the match when they went 25:18 up in the 48^th minute.

Top scorer was Danish wing Hans Lindberg, the top scorer of the EHF Cup 2016/17 season and former Champions League winner with Hamburg.

“It is incredible that we made it to our third straight final,” Füchse coach Velimir Petkovic said. “In a single match, we have the chance to beat Barcelona’s world class selection. We are eager to raise the trophy again.”

In 2015, Berlin beat Veszprém in the final, while last year they left Paris Saint-Germain behind.

Result summary IHF Super Globe 2017

Quarter-finals:
FC Barcelona Lassa (ESP) vs Esperance Sportive de Tunisie (TUN) 42:24 (19:10)
HC Vardar Skopje (MKD) vs Naft-O-Gas-Gachsaran (IRI) 30:22 (15:10)
Füchse Berlin (GER) vs Esporte Clube Pinheiros (BRA) 33:31 (16:14)
Al Sadd (QAT) - Sydney Uni Handball Club (AUS) 33:25 (14:11)

5/8 Placement Round:
Naft-O-Gas-Gachsaran (IRI) vs Esperance Sportive de Tunis (TUN) 28:35 (12:16)
Sydney Uni Handball Club (AUS) vs Esporte Clube Pinheiros (BRA) 26:32 (11:16)

Semi-finals:
Al Sadd (QAT) vs Füchse Berlin (GER) 23:30 (13:16)
Vardar Skopje (MKD) vs FC Barcelona Lassa (ESP) 29:32 (12:15)

Finals day: (Monday 28 August, local times - GMT+3)
13:00 hrs, 7/8 placement match: Sydney Uni Handball Club (AUS) vs Naft-O-Gas-Gachsaran (IRI)
15:00 hrs, 5/6 placement match: Esporte Clube Pinheiros (BRA) vs Esperance Sportive de Tunisie (TUN)
17:00 hrs, 3/4 placement match: Al Sadd (QAT) vs HC Vardar Skopje (MKD)
19:00 hrs, final: Füchse Berlin (GER) vs FC Barcelona Lassa (ESP)

Livestreams are available on the IHF website.

Photos: IHF