Barça Lassa – HC Vardar: Seven up! (34-26)

Barça Lassa earned yet another Champions League victory, their seventh in succession, against Vardar on a night the Palau won’t forget in a hurry. Mortensen’s stunning efficiency brought him eight goals, but the MVP was Palmarsson with a master class of leadership.

An equal start

With a lesson learned from their previous game, Vardar kept it tight in the first moments of the match (3-5), but once Barça got going thanks to a very compact defence and the success of Mortensen, they quickly drew level (7-7). Things remained equal for the first thirty minutes, which ended with a 16-15 advantage for the hosts.

A hurricane

Thanks to the goals of Aleix Gómez and Duarte, the magnificent Palmarsson-Mortensen connection and the great performance of Moller, the Blaugrana surged into a strong lead after the break (21-15). From that point, Barça wouldn’t relax and began to score at will (25-17).

Try as they might, Vardar were unable to claw back the deficit, and more wonderful play from Mortensen and Palmarsson left the Palau thoroughly entertained. The win  (34-26) consolidates Barça in first place in the table.

MATCH DETAILS

Barça Lassa, 34
HC Vardar, 26

Barça Lassa: Pérez de Vargas (-), Mortensen (8), Aleix Gómez (3), Thiagus Petrus (1), Dika Mem (2), Palmarsson (2) i Fabregas (2) – starters – Víctor Tomás (3), Entrerrios (-), Sorhaindo (3), Andersson (1), Ariño (3), Syprzak (1), Dolenec (1), Gilberto Duarte (4) and Moller (ps).

HC Vardar: Milosavljev (-), Dibirov (2), Shishkarev (1), Stoilov (2), Borozan (3), Kristopans (1) i Skube (2) – starters – Popovski (-),Dissinger (4), Karacic (2), Kalarash (-), Ghedbane (-), Cupic (5),  Vojvodic (-), Kiselev (4).

Breakdown: 2-2, 4-4, 7-7, 11-9, 13-13, 16-15 (half-time) 21-16, 24-17, 27-18, 29-21, 33-24, 34-26

Officials: Zigmars Sondors and Renars Licis

Attendance: 3,864 spectators at the Palau Blaugrana