Futsal | Barça knows how to suffer and is already in the Champions League Final Four!

The Barça team held off the Riga goalkeeper-player to win 2-3 (a draw was not worth it)

Adolfo, Catela and a talented Touré return Barça to the Final Four after a campaign of absence

Barça beat the host Riga FC 2-3 and qualified for the Champions League Final Four that the next first will be played and for which Benfica is also already qualified, waiting for Mallorca Palma Futsal to add the point they need this afternoon against FC Hit since Sporting de Portugal and Anderlecht will play the last one this Sunday.

Not even the injuries of Sergio Lozano, Ferrao, Álex and Sergio Gonzálezneither the sanction to Pito in the first game nor the threat of the second yellow for several players have stopped a team magnificently led by Jesús Velasco who has given a management clinic despite the few pieces he had.

Therefore, the Barcelona team already knows that it will be in the most important weekend of the season and He will soon recover Miquel Feixas and perhaps Sergio González waiting for the great captain Sergio Lozano to return in February. Yes, the Super Cup arrives at the beginning of January… but now it’s just time for celebration.

It was a match in which a Latvian team had an advantage and a draw was worth it after their 5-4 victories against Étoile – Lavalloise and Città di Eboli. On the other hand, a Barça team marked by significant casualties and the threat of suspension of several players, including Pito, needed to win to avoid being left without the Final Four for the second consecutive year.

The great proper name of the Latvian champion is Ricardinho. Unanimously considered the best player in the world of the last decade, at 38 years old, the Portuguese left flashes of his innate class and did not hesitate when it came to positioning himself as a false closure to cover waterways in defense and collaborate with circulation from behind.

1, 2, 3… BARÇA!! 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/3uVSLnr309

— Barça Futbol Sala (@FCBfutbolsala) December 2, 2023

At the beginning the match was more similar to that of Étoile Lavalloise, since Riga tries much more than Eboli. Thalles, a former player for Industrias Santa Coloma, had a great first half and forced Dídac to shine after two minutes, to which Pito responded with a powerful shot and Catela with another that went slightly high.

The Barça pressure was increasing and Adolfo put the team on his back again on a counter to score 0-1 just before the 6th minute in the second instance, after Labuts cleared his first shot dry and low. Once again the man from Cologne, who has been the great star of Barça in this Champions League.

Catela ran into Labuts and When Barça was at its best, they conceded 1-1 in a repetition of an increasingly endemic evil. The team proposes much more than the rival, creates more chances and is hit by the slightest lack of concentration or when it makes a mistake, no matter how slight. Argentine Dylan Vargas hooked a bitten shot that touched André Coelho and confused Dídac just halfway through the first half.

That tie affected Jesús Velasco’s team, who masterfully used his few pieces, who did not recover the solvency of the first 10 minutes despite a good arrival from Erick in the 12th minute. In fact, It was Riga that was about to make it 1-2 in a header against the crossbar by the Belarusian Kuzmin after a great intervention by Dídac after a shot from Ricardinho.

In the final moments of the first act, we only have to highlight a great shot by Dyego to which the Latvian goalkeeper responded well and a fifth foul by the Latvians that did not get any worse when the sixth did not arrive. The point is that Barça had let half the time escape and it remained the same as at the beginning, with the need to score at least one more goal than its rival.

The second half was a nervous wreck with a save from Dídac against Ricardinho and a shot from Pito into the top corner. The one from Chapecó pressed to recover a ball on the left profile, waited to combine with Catela and The man from Cadiz found the perfect moment and place next to the post to make it 1-2 in the 24′.

An excellent Thalles once again created danger in the 28th minute in what was the prelude to the 1-3 that Touré achieved. The French, increasingly a first team player, ran down the right to receive a perfect delivery from Erick who also took his stripes out for a walk. There the duel entered a phase of back and forth that was broken at 6:39 when the Latvian coach gave the goalkeeper jersey to Serginho.

They were facing corners against a rival who had won both of their games with a five-man attack, taking advantage of Ricardinho’s touch and precision. Thalles sent a missile past the top corner in the 35th minute that made it 2-3 and from then on the four Barça defenders did not stop running or covering until the final whistle. Yes, it has been difficult, but… Barça returns to the Champions League Final Four!