Hey Barcelona beat Sporting 5-4 They qualified for the UEFA Futsal Champions League final on Friday, at the Demirchian Arena, in Yerevan, Armenia.
In a match that witnessed a crazy first half, there were three comebacks, six goals in the first half and three in the second half, and finally Barcelona, where the Portuguese Andre Coelho and Eric Mendonça played, succeeded in qualifying.
The final may be 100% Portuguese, but it will be 100% Spanish: Barcelona joins Palma, the current title holder, Who defeated Benfica hours ago in the first semi-final. The Lions and Eagles will duel for third and fourth places at 2pm on Sunday, three hours before the final.
Six goals, two comebacks and a crazy first half
In Yerevan, it was a great first half between Barcelona and Sporting. There were six goals, two comebacks and an attacking phase in which the teams became superior in a way that was perhaps not expected in a Champions League semi-final.
Sporting was winning 1-0, Barcelona turned the score to 2-1, the Lions responded in kind by turning the score to 3-2, and the Catalans reached 3-3 at half time.
The first minute of the match was crazy for Tomas Paco, who committed Sporting's first two fouls, received a yellow card after the second in the 41st second, and in the 54th second, nullified the score with a stunning goal: a right-footed shot. , from the start, right, after a side throw-in from Alex Merlin, who hit a perfect volley for Baku to score a stunning goal.
Petardo Tomas Paco puts Sporting in the lead 🚀
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May 3, 2024
However, Barcelona, which gradually tried to equalize, then came back with two goals in 28 seconds. At 8:20 minutes, Rafa Felix scored an own goal when he unfortunately put his right foot on the ball coming from a Mamadou Toure throw-in on the left flank and Henrique Ravagnin was unable to prevent the 2-1 scoreline. At 8:48, Adolfo was back: after a corner kick from Katila, he appeared behind Joao Matos, at the far post, to give Barcelona their first lead.
A throw-in from Toure deflects off Rafa Felix to equalize
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
Adolfo is back again
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
The last five minutes of the first half were even more exciting, as Sporting, who were on the verge of committing five fouls (at 07:16 before half-time), committed the sixth foul by Bani Varela at the start of the final four minutes, but Katila missed the sixth. . 3-1, he hit the post in a duel with Bernardo Paco, who came in to save the free kick.
Merlin and Zeke's magic 🪄
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
The one who didn't waste half a minute after that was Zeke, who made it 2-2 at 16:32, on the counter-attack after a Barcelona corner kick, following a pass from Alex Merlin. After 50 seconds, Hugo Neves made it 3-2: Zeke was fouled by a penalty kick from Didac Plana (Barcelona's fifth) and Neves restored the lead to the Lions on the rebound. Didak blocked the first shot, the ball bounced off the post and returned for Neves to score. However, Barcelona struck back a minute later, as Catella, on the right, saw Antonio Pérez enter, who curled a low shot near the post past Henrique to make it 3-3 at half-time.
Hugo Neves on Monday 🙌
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
Drawing by Antonio Perez
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
Stop and respond to open the second half until Matthews closes the accounts
The levels of competitiveness, spectacle and alternation in the score continued in the second half and it took just one minute and 34 seconds for the third somersault in the score: Katila made it 4-3 to Barcelona with a powerful shot from below. After a pass from Andre Coelho and an imitation of Thomas Paco on the right side. Sporting responded in the 24th minute and made the score 4-4 through Tateño, who only came on as a substitute in the second half and left his mark by clearing a throw-in from Alex Merlin from the right side inside the area. The match was progressing, the goals were appearing, and there were only a few words left to classify one of the best Champions League matches in recent years.
Katila scores and Barcelona takes the lead again
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
Tateño equalizes the match again 🙌
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
Things were quiet for a while on the scoreboard, until in the last nine minutes, Matthäus made it 5-4 (31 min), after a brilliant individual move: he received it on the left, and simulated the shot with his best (left) foot. ) and pulled her to the right to beat Henrique Ravagnin with a shot from below.
Matthews doesn't give it a chance
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– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal)
May 3, 2024
This goal ended up being decisive, as the result never changed. In the last three minutes, Sporting bet on a 5 x 4 strategy, but Barcelona managed to defend themselves to achieve their seventh Champions League final.
Barcelona-Sporting: Fourth victory for the Catalan team
With this victory on Friday, Barcelona added its fourth victory in five matches against Sporting, which was looking for its eighth final and fourth in a row after the two titles in 2019 and 2021 and the runner-up in 2011, 2017, 2018 and 2022. And 2023.
In 2022, Barcelona became European champions by defeating Sporting Sporting 4-0. In 2021, Sporting beat Barcelona and won the European title with a 4-3 win. Previously, the two teams have already faced each other in the 2011/12 and 2014/15 UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finals, with Barcelona winning both matches 5-1 and 5-3 respectively.
The team coached by Jesus Velasco is looking forward to equaling Inter Movistar, the record holder in the number of titles, with five titles. Barcelona won the title in 2012, 2024, 2020 and 2022, and runner-up in 2015 and 2021.
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