Without breaking a sweat, Barça continued in Irún its Spanish tradition of storing in the club's Museum every domestic competition title it plays, no matter what it is called. The last one has been the Asobal Cup renamed the Spanish Cup (due to the conflict between the Spanish Federation and the Association of professional clubs, the Asobal). With this third title of the 2023-24 season (the previous ones were the Catalunya Super Cup and the Iberian Cup), Barça has already accumulated the 40 Spanish trophies played in the last decade. All those played since the last one they lost in May 2013, the Copa del Rey against Atlético.
In this decade, since the disappearance of the red and white club, Barça's toughest antagonist in Spanish competitions until then, the Blaugrana team, due to potential, quality, budget and ambition, has barely had a rival in the four domestic tournaments (Liga , Copa del Rey, Super Cup and Asobal Cup). Logroño was the last to oppose the surprise in the Irún final, but their resistance only lasted 11 minutes, the time it took for Barça to take the initiative on the scoreboard with a missile from Tim N'Guessan (8-7 ).
Until that moment, Logroño resisted with a good defense and the effectiveness of the brothers David and Eduardo Cadalso and the winger Xavi Tuà, which allowed the Riojans to maintain the exchange of blows. Until Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas – elected MVP – began to string together stops (10 in total), the Blaugrana defense adjusted the score to 6:0 and Carlos Ortega's battleship scored a 3-0 run that opened the first gap (10- 7) which was already definitive.
With the wind in their favor, and with the first units on the court at full capacity, Barça reached a 6 in the first half (16-10) and stepped on the accelerator after going through the locker room with a 5-1 that took them to 22 -14, the maximum income, thanks to the immeasurable Dika Mem, author of 7 goals.
But far from finishing off the rival with their tremendous superiority and breadth on the bench, Barça slowed down and gave life to Logroño by conceding a 0-3 that brought the Riojans within just four goals (25-21) thanks to Xavi Tuà. Ortega had to call a time-out to avoid a scare and calm the rival's effervescence. He handed the baton to Pol Valera – unprecedented until then – and Richardson came to the rescue, in the absence of Mem, heavily loaded with minutes, to unblock his team.
Logroño did not give up, emboldened and eager to make trouble. Tuà, a winger from Gavà who overcame testicular cancer, became the catalyst for the Riojans with three goals in a row and brought his team closer to just 3 goals (from 28-25 to 31-28) with only 2 minutes remaining. Ortega turned to Emil Nielsen and Mem to avoid the final suffering and it was the young Petar Cikussa who finished off the victory and secured the 13th Asobal Cup (now Spanish Cup) in a row.
Barça: Pérez de Vargas (Nielsen); Valera (1), Mem (8), Aleix Gómez (8, 3 pen.), Frade (1), Carlsbogard, Ariño (1), Janc, Thiagus Petrus, Richardson (4), Petar Cikusa (2), Javier Rodríguez, Gallego, Langaro (1), N'Guessan (5).
Logrono La Rioja: Palasics (Mohamed Aly); Zaja (1), David Cadarso (4), Palomino (1), Xavi Tua (6), Alves Ponciano (3), Eduardo Cadarso (2), Modi (1), Urios (4), Marti Soler (1), El Korchi (4), Precious, Eduardo Ortiz (1).
Partials: 4-4; 6-6; 9-7; 13-10; 16-11; 17-13- rest- 20-13; 22-15; 24-18; 26-22; 28-25; 31-28.
Referees: Andreu Marin and Ignacio Garcia. Gallego (2), Frade (2), Palomino and Rolando Urios Jr. were ruled out.
Track: Artaleku, Irún. 1,400 spectators.
