The throne has an owner and is not touched. That clarified Palma Futsal, capable of governing Barça and the Champions League, champion with honors. It all started with a sensational light show in the Yerevan (Armenia) pavilion while the players paraded one by one, first the current champions and then the Blaugrana. There was no room for smiles, barely for high fives, because the tension could be seen with clenched jaws, stares into space, and some liberating scream. It was no wonder, it was the final of the finals, Cream of the cream, the effervescent Palma – which was already crowned in the previous year – against Barcelona, the eternal favorite candidate. And history dictated that Palma is still the king.
It happened that the duel started awry, with problems with the stopwatch because it did not count down the seconds and when the referees realized, with one minute played, they decided to stop the match. Warming up again, balls for each team so they wouldn’t stay cold, confusion. Show Dantesque for a European final. But it was temporary because the ball started rolling again and both teams, who know each other inside out – they had met three times this year with local victories in the League and another Barça team in the semi-final of the Spanish Cup on penalties – surrendered to the cause, even though there was hardly any breath coming from the stands, which is logical if you take into account the distance from the stage, the difficulty of the fans in supporting their team on site.
Palma was more and better from the start, with their pressure and counterattacks, with few passes and many meters, they took over the 40×20, and also the chances. But Vilian, Chaguinha, Bruno and Gordillo couldn’t beat Dídac, a giant with gadgetarms and gadgetpies. Neither did Rivillos, who requested push and nourishment from the fans, who successfully asked them to opt for them. That bothered Velasco so much, that he unleashed a morrocotuda rant at the Blaugrana during a time-out, which he explained between howls – “Either we’re going to get them or they’re going to get in on us! “We are asleep, asleep!” he cried, that in the absence of football the attitude is non-negotiable. Demand that Dídac himself tried to pass on to his team like Higuita, as he discounted a rival and crossed the midfield to test his counterpart. A gesture that encouraged Barça, which activated Adolfo and Catela, a team that got the pulse of the goal but not the rival goal, also a giant Carlos Barrón between the sticks.
There was more football and more sparks, as there were some scuffles (like the one between Antonio and Cléber, the one between Gordillo and Coelho), until Adolfo settled the matter when he found the hole and the final shot, whipping the post and the net, maximum Barça scorer (9) in the competition. A cudgel that Palma did not blame, because after a corner Cléber hit a volley to tie things up, to return the intrigue to the match. Something that Catela and Ferrão did not decipher because they missed the double-penalty shots against the Wall Barrón, penalties that explain that games are decided by details… And that was clarified by Vilian, who at the horn, with a foul, once again snuck the ball under Dídac’s legs and in the face of a distraught Barça.
In a commendable physical exercise, pure electricity, denial of spaces and passing lines, Palma blurred the Barça will, unable to clear the rival. But in the second act there was only one team on the field – at least with the intention of attacking -, a Barça that was boldly chasing a tie. Denied that, yes, by Luan Muller, who took advantage of the shots from Matheus, Erick, Catela… And if not, the crossbar was worth it, as she spit out a cannon shot from Lozano. The deficiency in finishing facilitated the Mallorcan lullaby and led to a groggy Barça, lacking in ingenuity and solutions to resolve in the opposing area. Circumstance to which Touré, a young Frenchman who asks for a place in the first team because he outgrew the reserves a long time ago, rebelled. His shots, however, did not hit the target, and he was also punished by the post in one of them.
With the match broken, especially because Barça was no longer paying attention to the rearview mirror but was trying to multiply in another’s field, Catela enjoyed a shot into an empty goal. Or so it seemed, because Luan arrived out of nowhere, a feline stretch that was as fast as it was a savior, a save that counts for games. In this case, the title. Especially because in the next play, Neguinho took advantage of a cross to attack the far post, to send the ball into the net. And what was happening was over for Barça, who urgently and at the horn received two last goals from Chaguinha and Neguinho, who were left with the desire to remain alone at the top of the podium, since they share four laurels with the Movistar Inter. And that, of course, was celebrated with enthusiasm by Palma, which revalidates the success, which explains that the throne is theirs and only theirs.
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