Barça gave up its first point in the Champions League against Nantes, who almost knocked down the European champions. Carlos Ortega’s players, in a bad second half, wasted a five-goal lead (17-22 at 35 minutes) despite the 17 saves of a gigantic Emil Nielsen and the 9 goals of Dika Mem. The first round of the Champions could not be perfect: 7 games, 6 wins, one draw.
Start on the run
Barça found themselves uncomfortable without being able to impose their rhythm against a very fast-paced Nantes
Barça surprised on their visit to Nantes with the departure of Domen Makuc and Petar Cikusa together in the direction of the team. It was difficult for the two young people to control the helm of the game, because in a start of back and forth, without pause, with the two teams in the race, the Blaugrana team did not look comfortable. He even experienced the strange sensation of seeing himself behind on the scoreboard, 6-5 by Gaber (m. 9).
But a partial 0-4 (with goals from Makuc, Janc, N’Guessan and Mem) gave the first respite to the Catalans (6-9), coinciding with the appearance of Melvyn Richardson and the decisive contribution of Emil Nielsen who It grew by the minute (8 stops in 18m, including a penalty).
Despite the fact that Barça achieved 4 goals advantage with relative ease (with Janc’s 7-11, at 19m40s), Ortega’s team did not finish finishing off a Nantes team that was trying to get into the game in the final stretch of the first half. with the goals of Noam and Bos. Dika Mem once again put the team on his back with five goals, with the 12 saves that Nielsen already had, to maintain the lead of +3 at half-time (14-17) and the feeling of Blaugrana superiority. Although he couldn’t get lost.
Maximum and minimum advantage
Barça was a roller coaster: they went from leading by five goals (17-22) to losing by one with 57 seconds left (31-30)
To avoid scares, since Nantes is a rival with good second halves that rarely lets themselves go too far, Barça accelerated at the start in the second half. Mem, with his sixth goal, put the Blaugrana with +5 (16-21), which Frade maintained (17-22). But far from consolidating the advantage, Ortega’s team faltered in defense and conceded a resounding 4-0 run that put Nantes within a goal (21-22, at 39m). The Andalusian coach had to call a time-out to stop the French comeback.
The French approach was a first warning that Barça took note of. To get away from Nantes again, the Blaugrana opted to close the defense better and play a faster game, making the most of their lethal counterattack. He again went within 4 goals (24-28 from Frade), but his respite was short-lived. Despite Nielsen’s 17 saves, the French team held on to Minne’s goals to get within one goal (28-29) with 7 minutes remaining and Barça had to get serious again.
crazy ending
In the last five minutes, Barça went from winning by 2, to losing with 29 seconds left, tying and wasting a ball to win
He entered the last five minutes (28-30) with the exclusion of Ariño. The Blaugrana team would have to suffer to retain the victory. Noam made it 29-30 with 4m10s left, Cikusa missed the next Blaugrana attack and Tournat tied with 3m left. Mem took responsibility for the free kick, but sent it wide. Nantes scored in their attack (31-30, Minne) with 57s to the horn. Ortega asked for time to turn the score around. Cikusa forced a exclusion from Bos and was able to attack 29s with superiority. Janc tied it at 31 from the end with 10 seconds left. An infraction by Nantes gave the last ball to Ariño, who failed to throw; Goalkeeper Pesic guessed it.
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