Rhein Neckar Löwen 31-31 FC Barcelona Lassa: Bittersweet draw in Mannheim

Rhein Neckar Löwen 31-31 FC Barcelona Lassa: Bittersweet draw in Mannheim

FC Barcelona within seconds of starting Champions League campaign with an impressive win - but a tie in Germany is still a more than decent result

Barça Lassa have started the 2017/18 Champions League by conceding an equaliser in the very last second, but that’s the level of competition on the continental stage, where a 12-18 half-time lead can soon be cut away. And that is precisely what happened today in Mannheim, home of Bundesliga champions Rhein Neckar Löwen.

The opening moments were a sign of things to come, when the Catalans stormed into a 1-4 lead but the Germans soon squared things up at 8-8.

Intense attack, with a 76% conversion rate, meant Barça pumped their way back into the lead, going six ahead at the interval.

A 7-2 streak in just six minutes saw the home side undo all that good work, and for the remainder of match the lead bounced back and forth between the two sides – but when FCB had two players sin binned on 28 minutes, the scales looked like they had tipped in the wrong direction.

But no… Barça raised their game in response and were in touching distance of an intensely achieved 30-31 win when the Germans struck in the nick of time and the game was tied.

On Saturday, the two sides will meet again at 6.00pm CET, this time at the Palau, but there’s a Liga Asobal game before that on Wednesday at home to Puente Genil (8.30pm CET).

Força Barça
Força Barça

Related to this article

Close article

Related to this article