Courtesy: LEN
Palermo gained a two-goal advantage against Sabadell in the first leg of the Euro Cup final. The highly exciting game produced a handful of twists and turns, a last-gasp penalty goal doubled the Italians’ advantage.
Telimar Palermo (ITA) v Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) 9-7
Return leg: 26 March
Palermo is two goals closer to claim its first ever European trophy as the Italians managed to edge out their Spanish rivals in a highly combative game. The Italians had a better start, took a 2-1 lead but towards the end of the opening period they missed a penalty. Still, they had a better rhythm, and their M-zone defence kept the Spaniards in bay for a while.
They led 4-3 at halftime and in the first half of the third they seemed to take the upper hand as two extramen goals in 62 seconds put them 6-3 ahead. Bernat Sanahuja pulled one back from a man-up to end Sabadell’s 4:02 minute-long drought and some brilliant defending soon pushed the hosts’ offence off-balance. When goals weigh that much in a game like this, Dusan Ranicevic’s fantastic hit from the centre for 6-5 had a tremendous value – while the visitors denied even a 6 on 4 in front of their goal.
Palermo’s miseries continued in the fourth as Sabadell’s goalie Eduardo Lorrio brilliantly stole the ball from the centre-forward who had just turned towards the goal, while Ranicevic scored another action goal from the centre for 6-6. With 4:40 remaining, Sabadell earned a man-up, called a time-out but they couldn’t put the ball away while Riccardo di Loco finally broke the ice at the other end after a freeze of 9:23 minutes with a great shot from the perimeter – so instead of 6-7 it was 7-6 and that proved to be the turning point.
Just 50 seconds later it was 8-6 as the hosts managed to score from their next man-up (after a time-out). Sergi Cabanas pulled one back by burying an extra with 1:30 to go and the Spaniards had a possession to go even but couldn’t create any danger. Palermo got a man-up 20 seconds from time and even though the Spanish denied their attempt, a huge error – the excluded player with 3 fouls returned to the field – gifted the hosts a penalty. Max Irving converted it, so Palermo doubled its advantage for the return leg. In light of Sabadell’s home results (draw in the quarters, a one-goal loss in the semis) that’s already a promising outcome.