Courtesy: LEN
The first winner of the European club season is to be declared this Saturday in Sabadell where the return leg of the Euro Cup final takes place. It’s going to be a historical first at the European stage for the victor, either the Spaniards or Italy’s Palermo come out on top in the end. Palermo won the first leg 9-7.
Sabadell needs to dig deep to overturn the two-goal deficit, but the hosts got used to playing nailbiters this season as they edged out Savona in the quarters after a thrilling 34-shot penalty shootout and survived a couple of scares against fellow Spanish side CN Barcelona in the semis.
It’s yet to be seen if their disastrous mistake committed in the last second of the first leg hits back: they were trailing by a single goal, killed Palermo’s last man-up but their excluded player returned to the field despite getting his third personal foul and the ensuing penalty doubled the Italians’ advantage.
The Sabadell pool witnessed a couple of great triumphs, thanks to the women’s team which won the Euro League five times – the men’s side is yet to claim a European trophy, they reached the final ten years ago but were denied by Savona, an Italian side.
Beforehand, Palermo has never been around when European silverware was at stake – now they have a great chance to add a golden chapter to the club’s history book. It would also boost Italy’s outstanding tally in this competition – since 1993 (back then called LEN Trophy) its clubs were absolutely dominant, lifted the trophy 10 times and had 10 more occasions when an Italian side finished runner-up. On contrary, Spain had only three appearances, with two victories and one lost final (by Sabadell).
Euro Cup, Final, 2nd leg – Saturday 12.30 Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) v Telimar Palermo (ITA) – first leg: 7-9
