Barça, the undisputed favorite to win the Copa del Rey handball, dispatched the quarterfinal duel against Torrelavega (42-29) without complications, which he ended up dispatching as a formality. Although at the beginning it cost him his own... A 5-7 after 12 minutes set off the alarms for Carlos Ortega at the Ballena de Santander, as the charming Palacio de los Deportes near the Sardinero is known.
In the semifinals, this Saturday (6:00 p.m.) Ademar León by Manolo Cadenas awaits the Blaugrana, who beat Guadalajara 23-35.
Barça appeared at the Palacio de los Deportes somewhat drowsy. It is not usual for a great team like the blaugrana to go seven minutes without scoring, until Dika Mem was right to make it 1-3. Torrelavega, grown, with a strong defense, playing 6 against 7, and in a great moment physically and mentally, led by Álex Mozas, surprised the Catalans with two 0-3 sets, the first and the second. that after the first blaugrana advantage (Ludo Fàbregas' 5-4 at 10m) led him to distance himself again by 5-7.
It was then that Carlos Ortega called a timeout to correct the mess of his players. He brought on Luka Cindric as the central defender and the Croatian, highly motivated, accelerated the game and with the success of Hampus Wanne (3 goals) and Aleix Gómez (2 more) Barça regained its status: a 6-run run. 1 in seven minutes put him on the path to victory (11-8 at 19m).
With the game back under control, Barça settled in the 5 goals of rent at half-time (19-14) and Ortega put the team back together. Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas came out in the goal after the restart, and would end up being MVP of the match due to his good saves that sent Barça to a maximum lead of 10 (27-17) in just 9 minutes of play.
The Blaugrana machinery was already well-oiled and they just had to keep pushing the accelerator to reach a maximum advantage of 14 goals (37-23, 41-27) and end up subduing the Cantabrians, the revelation team of the Asobal League (6th in his first season in the elite).
Barça's top scorers were, at the same time, Mem, Janc, Wanne and Cindric with 6 goals each. Pérez de Vargas scored 2 from his goal.
