The blaugranas make their debut on Wednesday (2:45 p.m.) in the Super Globe against the weakest rival in the group, Al-Noor
If it is first in the group, everything points to a semi-final duel against the current leader of the Bundesliga, Füchse Berlin
Barça is already watching weapons in the Saudi town of Damman with the aim of recover the Super Globe scepter after losing the last two finals against Magdeburg. Like the other three European teams present at the Club World Cup, the Blaugranas have not been able to prepare for the tournament and even the Brazilians Haniel Langaro and Thiagus Petrus traveled directly from Chile, where they lost in the final of the Pan American Games against Argentina and They were left without a direct ticket for Paris 2024.
With the only loss due to injury to the Slovenian Domen Makuc and in addition to long duration, Carlos Ortega will try to distribute the loads as much as possible this Wednesday in the debut against Al-Noor Club at 2:45 p.m. (live on Esport3). There should be no problems.
another song will be Thursday’s duel at 5:00 p.m. against the powerful Egyptian Al Ahly that this Tuesday they surpassed the Saudis by 38-20 and that already put Barça in serious problems in the preseason in the final of the Doboj Tournament despite the deceptive 37-31 final score in an exhibition by Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas.
Change sensations
The Barça team has just lost at the Palau against the powerful Veszprém, its only defeat of the season (36-41) after offering some doubts in the two previous games, especially in defense and consistency (31-37 in Celje and 33-30 against TM Benidorm).
Carlos Ortega expects the best version of his team in Damman
| VALENTÍ ENRICH
“I think it’s mostly a mental issue, so separating this week is going to be good for us. Here the demand is maximum every day, the players are put under a lot of pressure and these days are going to be positive. The bad thing is that now we will be playing for an important title right afterward,” commented Carlos Ortega in a recent interview with SPORT.
The need to go to two changes for the ideal rearguard with Petrus and Carlsbogard as defenders it complicates the options when the opponent runs like Veszprém did, although until that match all the variants had worked perfectly “and we are studying alternatives to solve it,” added the coach. One of them could be to place N’Guessam in the center to save a change.
Rivals and… scare
The four Europeans start as favorites in the toughest roster in the 16 editions of the history of the Super Globe. The first of the Barça group will meet in the semis with B in which Füchse Berlin, current leader of the Bundesliga, shines with the Danish genius Mathias Gidsel and with his ex-Azulgrana compatriot Lasse Andersson in an extraordinary moment. The Germans make their debut today (12:30 p.m.) against Argentine San Fernando.
The injured Domen Makuc, last year against Magdeburg
| IHF
On the other side of the picture, the champion of the last two editions Magdeburg It debuts this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against the Saudi Khaleej Club in Group C, while in Group D the first big surprise was about to occur this Tuesday in the first match of the tournament.
With the big scorer Álex Dujshebaev finally recovered from an injury that luckily was less serious than it seemed at first, Polish Kielce beat Al-Najma club from Bahrain 27-26 thanks to a foul goal with time served by Szymon Sicko. In today’s sport any rival can be dangerous.