Spain beat Italy and secured the second and final place in the European Roller Hockey Final. After 4-4 at the end of regular and extra time, the Spanish national team won on penalties (3-0).
Andrea Malagoli put Italy ahead in the 14th minute, but Spain equalized a little later, through Pau Bargalo, in the 15th minute. But the break would come with an Italian advantage, after Julio Cocu’s goal, in a strong performance, in the 20th minute.
In the second half, it was necessary to wait for the last ten minutes for more goals and a lot of emotions. Sergi Aragones equalized (41m), Andrea Malagoli scored twice for Italy (44m), but Pau Bargalo, who scored two more goals in a hat-trick, turned it over in favor of Spain (44m and 45m). Closer to the end, in the 49th minute, Malaguli also scored a hat-trick in a 4–4 victory.
And the parity continued until the end of the fifty minutes and extra time, and with a penalty shootout, Coco, Malagoli and Gavioli did not materialize for Italy, while Spain scored the first three attempts to crown the qualifiers, through Carballera, Aragones and Barroso.
In the final, scheduled for 20:45 on Saturday, it will face Spain Portugal, which beat France hours ago. The Iberian duel is already a tradition in the fight for the title and it happened again and for the first time after the Spanish success in 2018, in A Coruña (6-3).
The current defending champion, who won in 2021 in Paredes against France (2-1 after extra time), has won 18 European titles, in 34 finals. Portugal is the record holder, with 21 in 35 finals.
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