So much hard work, but no rewarded in the end. Not even with the passion of the Palau behind them could the FC Barcelona Lassa futsal team force a fourth game in the LBFS final series against Movistar Inter, who came from behind to secure the league title.
It was a very different game to the third, and the first at the Palau, with less attack and more interruptions. There were also errors from both sides, especially in defence, and much of the shooting was limited to speculative long-range efforts.
Things all started well enough with Ferrao putting the Catalans ahead after just six minutes. But from that moment on, most of the bigger chances were at the other end of court. Barça weathered that storm and did have a few chances of their own, but there was no further change of score before the break.
But the second half saw Ricardinho level from a free kick, an incident that also saw Lozano become the third Barça player to get yellow-carded while Inter were getting away with what the home crowd felt to be actions that were equalling deserving of cautions.
It was not a tidy game, and Barça finally went behind when Cardinal latched onto one of a series of rebounds to score.
Barça hadn’t deserved such a cruel blow, and with time running out, their hunt for a response became more and more desperate. They threw all they could at Inter in search of an equaliser, but bad luck and visiting goalkeeper Jesús Herrero got the better of them every time. With Saad now as rush goalie, Ortiz then scored Inter’s third with three minutes to go. The league title was gone.
