Strong second half helps Barça win Match of the Week against Flensburg

Barça and Flensburg met again tonight after a seven-goal win for the Spanish side three weeks ago in Germany.
 
Barça were on a seven match winning streak, while Flensburg had lost their last three games, including one to Barça, who had to win tonight's Match of the Week in order to arrive in Paris for next week's clash in top spot.

• Barça won their eighth straight game in the VELUX EHF Champions League
• The Spanish side remain top of group A with 16 points while Flensburg are fifth, and could be leapfrogged tomorrow if Celje win
• Best scorer of the game was Barça’s Aleix Gomez with 10 goals, while Marius Steinhauser netted six times for Flensburg
• The Player of the Match award, presented by Plan International, the charity partner of the VELUX EHF Champions League, was handed to Aleix Gomez

GROUP A
Barça (ESP) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) 31:27 (15:15)

Barcelona were all-action in the first half, and Flensburg had to react to keep up.

The hosts broke away on the scoreboard, taking a three, then a four goal advantage, but they couldn't retain their lead.

The right side of the Barcelona offence was their biggest asset in the first half, with Mem and Gomez scoring a combined nine goals.

But Flensburg could count on Goeran Johannessen and Marius Steinhauser to keep the scoreboard ticking over. At half-time, both teams were back even (15:15).

In the second half, Barça goalkeeper Gonzalo Perez de Vargas made a couple of very important saves, allowing his team to regain the lead. This time, they were not to be pegged back.

Luka Cindric and Aleix Gomez showed no signs of slowing the tempo. With less than ten minutes to play, the Croatian left-back gave his team a six-goal advantage with his sixth personal goal (27:21).

From then on, Barça controlled proceedings, eventually winning 31:27 to record an impressive eighth straight win in the competition.

After the game, Flensburg coach Maik Machulla was left to rue the strength of the home goalkeeper: "We created a lot of good chances in attack, but there was Pérez de Vargas... We expected a very tough game today, and we kept our focus well...but in the last 10 minutes Barça played better and that’s why they won”.

Counterpart Xavi Pascual Fuertes agreed that his keeper had a big impact on the result: "I think that Flensburg played better than us in the first half, but today Gonzalo helped us a lot. He saved a lot of clear-cut chances. In the second half we rectified a few mistakes in defence, and then we played better”.