Barça 32-24 Recoletas At. Valladolid: League champions!

Another trophy for the FC Barcelona handball team and that's now 30 in total. Barça were crowned league champions on seeing Granollers lose to Benidorm (38-33) after first beating Recoletas At. Valladolid (32-24). A campaign full of wins and now with 46 points on the board, 14 more than second place with seven games still to go.

So they add to the trophies they won earlier in the season, namely the Copa Asobal and the Iberian Super Cup.

Desire to win

Barça started with a desire to seal the title, showing concentration and awareness that the win would take them close, resulting in a 6-3 score by the 9th minute.

The visitors' intensity dropped halfway through the first half and so did the pace of the match itself, but the lead remained comfortable for the Catalans (16-11, half-time).

Unstoppable

Barça stepped it up after the break, extending the lead to 20-13 by the 33rd minute, but both Perez de Vargas and Lamariano were having fine games in goal and kept the score down. The final minutes of the game saw goals by Fàbregas and Dika Mem see out the game for a comfortable 32-24 win.

The victory and Granollers' defeat saw Barça crowned Liga champion after the game. Next up, Benidorm visit the Palau Blaugrana (8pm CEST) when the team will be able to celebrate the title with the fans.

GAME STATS

Barça, 32
Recoletas At. Valladolid, 24

Barça: Aleix Gómez (3), Ian Barrufet (2), Dika Mem (7), Perez de Vargas (-), Fábregas (7), Carlsbogard (0), Cindric (1) - starting seven - Pol Valera (0) , N'Guessan (4), Petrus (0), Richardson (5), Frade (2), Urdangarin (0).

Recoletas At. Valladolid: Blanco (1), Lamariano (0), Toledo (2), Pedro Martínez (0), Alvaro Martínez (8), Dimitrievski (2), Camino (0) - starting seven - Méndez (2), Herrero (6) ), Henrique José Petter (1),  Dime Dimitrioski (0)

Partial scores (every 5 minutes): 4-3, 7-3, 9-5, 12-5, 13-7, 16-11 (half-time) 22-14, 24-17, 25-19, 26-20, 28 -20, 23-24 (full-time)

Referees: Ignacio García Serradilla, Andreu Marín Lorente.