Kiel 30-34 FC Barcelona: Majestic march into European final

What a performance at the Lanxess Arena. Baraça won convincingly against Kiel (30-34) and will play Kielce for the European title on Sunday, who also won their semi-final, 35-37 against Veszprém.

Tight start

With Aleix Gómez and Ángel Fernández both shining early on, Barça started confidently, but found no way to put anything more than one goal between themselves and their sturdy German opponents.

Dika Mem finally plugged himself into the game, and that was the main reason why Barça could have been leading by two at the interval, but a quick German response meant the sides went in for the break at 18-19.

Second half surge

But after a first half with so little to split between the teams, two goals from a superlative Aleix Gómez suddenly changed the whole course of the proceedings. However, the three point lead was threatened when both Fabregas and Thiagus Petrus were sin binned. Kiel were suddenly right back in it.

Aleix continued to excel, with his 12 goals just one short of the Final Four record held by Juanín García, and Langaro and Fabregas also joined the party.

A +6 lead looked to have ended it, but a 3-0 streak from Kiel, and a Ben Ali sending off, raised some questions marks. The tense finales was finally put to bed when N'Guessan scored and coupled with some stupendous saves from Gonzalo, Barça went on to win a dramatic game and a place in the grand final on Sunday.

MATCH STATS

THW Kiel, 30
Barça, 34

THW Kiel: Landin (-), Ehrig (2), Duvnjak (3), Reinkind (6), Magnus Landin (1), Myrhol (1), Weinhold (3),Wiencek (7), Ekberg (3), Benítez (-), Quenstedt (-), Dahmke (1), Zarabek (2), Horak (-), Bilyk (1).
Barça: Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas (-), Ángel Fernández (3), N'Guessan (3), Cindric (3), Fabregas (2), Dika Mem (4), Aleix Gómez (12) -siete inicial-. Ariño (1), Janc (2), Thiagus Petrus (-), Langaro (3), Maciel (-), Ben Ali (1), Richardson (-), Ali Zein (-).
Periods: 3-2 / 5-5 / 9-8 / 12-12 / 15-16 / 18-19 (HT) 20-22 / 22-25 / 24-29 / 26-31 / 27-32 / 30-34 (FT).
Referees: Nedad Nikolic, Dusan Stojkovic.