Courtesy: LEN
It’s home, sweet home for Astralpool Sabadell – they hosted the Champions League Women Final Four for the fifth time and triumphed once again, after 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2019. It was their sixth trophy in twelve years, thanks to a hard-fought 9-8 win over fellow Spanish side Mataro. The first-ever all-Spanish final was played in an electrifying atmosphere in front of packed tribunes – Sabadell now are only two victories away to catch up Orizzonte on the all-time ranks. The Italians claimed the bronze medal by beating Dunaujvaros with ease.
Final: CN Assolim Mataro (ESP) v Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) 8-9. Bronze medal match: Dunaujvaros VC (HUN) v Ekipe Orizzonte (ITA) 8-12
It was Sabadell’s turn and the host side beat fellow Spanish club Mataro in perhaps the most important match of the season to win the Champions League title for the 6th time in 12 years. Before this game, Mataro win three of their five encounters, including a Spanish Super Cup victory, but Sabadell bettered them for the Spanish Cup and now, for the biggest prize too.
For a while it looked like that Sabadell would win the game with exceptional ease – with three action goals from the perimeter in a span of 94 seconds, they jumped to a 2-5 lead by halftime and led by four goals twice in the third, at 2-6 and 3-7. Mataro were struggling, missed all their seven woman-ups in the first three periods, but they made an all-in in the fourth and cut their deficit to a single goal, first at 7-8, then at 8-9. At that point, they had three minutes to score the equaliser, but it never happened. Both sides defended vigorously, Mataro had one last fine chance in their final possession, but Laura Ester managed to save Vivian Sevenich’s backhander with 0:28 on the clock.
The final was played in front of packed stands, volume levels reached sky high as the fans loudly cheered during the first-ever all-Spanish final in the competition’s history. At the end, the locals were the happier if not the happiest as they could celebrate their 6th victory, five of them came here in this pool, so Sabadell kept their perfect home record for the Final Fours. At the other end, the players of Mataro were utterly disappointed – they won all previous matches in the Champions League this season, only to lose this very last one.
Sabadell is now just two victories away from catching up Orizzonte, which top the all-time ranks with 8 wins. Earlier, the Italians beat Dunaujvaros 12-8 with ease, they stormed to a 5-1 lead and never looked back. This was their third bronze medal upon their last three F4 participations, after 2014 and 2018.
Game reports and post-game quotes
Final: Mataro Sabadell 8-9
The two sides could barely surprise each other as they had already met five times in the season (in two domestic league matches, the respective finals in Spanish Cup and the Spanish Super Cup, and in the prelims of the Champions League). Mataro held a 3-2 edge, but all games were extremely balanced, one or two goals separated the sides at the end.
Since there are only 40km between the two cities, both are located in the agglomeration around Barcelona, the stands were filled completely, and the fans were incredibly noisy right from the beginning. As for the voice level, there was no home advantage, each possession generated some reaction to ensure an electrifying atmosphere in the pool.
Anni Espar opened the scoring for Mataro with a fine action shot, and their lead could have been doubled easily after a turnover foul, but they were unable to put the ball away despite arriving back in a two on one and having two shots within seconds (Ester came up big at the first). Sabadell hit back quickly, Maggie Steffens’ blast from the perimeter blown up the right side of the tribune.
The hosts could have taken the lead, but Sabrina van der Sloot was denied twice in back-to-back woman-ups, then she hit the bar from a penalty, quite unusual series from the classy Dutch leftie. Mataro had a 6 on 5 in the last 18 seconds but bad passes ruined their chance, so it stood 1-1 after eight minutes.
After three more minutes intense battling, Matilde Ortiz broke the ice with a fine lob from the left wing, then Ester stopped Cristina Nogue’s close range shot in a woman-down, then after a blocked action shot Rita Keszthelyi could gain some advantage and finished off the counter for 2-2. Sabadell took the lead again, Judith Forca let the ball fly from the perimeter, 42 seconds later van der Sloot finally found the back of the net, and in another 52 seconds Forca hit another one for 2-5. Mataro were in trouble, missed a 6 on 5 in the process while conceding three action goals from the distance in 1:34 minutes. Ester had a hand on two attempts in another woman-down inside the last minute, so Sabadell seemed to be on their way to another home triumph.
Forca’s lob-like shot expanded the gap to four, though Simone van der Kraats pulled one back immediately. Still, it was Sabadell all the way – despite a denied man-down, Mataro was unable to penetrate the hosts’ defence and None Perez reset the four-goal gap from a two-on-one counter at 3-7. With 2:43 on the clock, coach Dani Ballart called for a time-out to re-organise the team’s offence, but in vain – after a saved shot, another 6 on 5 was gone with a lost ball. Clara Cambray finished off a counter to give Mataro’s fans something to cheer, then they survived Sabadell’s 6 on 4, had another extra but couldn’t reduce the gap to two as they could only hit the woodwork (were 0 for 7 at this stage). Sabadell went for a 15sec possession after a time-out, Steffens’ bouncer hit the bar – still, they kept their three-goal advantage (4-7) with eight minutes to go, a quite promising partial result in a final.
Keszthelyi’s brilliant 6m lob finally cut Mataro’s deficit to two 26 seconds into the fourth, but Maica Garcia came up with one of her usual magics, a fantastic backhander from the centre for 5-8. Cambray put away the ball from another counter and after a blocked shot Mataro gained a 6 on 5, and even though only from the second attempt, they finally made it, via Silvia Avegno’s fierce shot. It stood 7-8, but Elena Ruiz hit back with a distant shot (the goalie wasn’t praised from the bench), and the roof was to come down as the fans were shouting wildly all over the place.
Though Mataro missed their next extra as well but kept the ball and van der Kraats sent it to the net from the perimeter for 8-9, with 2:56 on the clock. A turnover foul denied Mataro’s next chance to equalise, at least they denied Sabadell’s 6 on 5, but couldn’t do much in their next possession. A fine block gave them a last chance, Vivian Sevenich finally got the ball in the centre – she didn’t see it many times in the game –, the Dutch managed to make a backhanded shot, but Ester could catch it, and that was it since only 27 seconds remained. Sabadell kept the ball and started the celebrations.
Usually, as one might add – it was the fifth time they hosted a Final Four and their fifth win after 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2019, and the sixth overall. Now they are trailing only by two behind Orizzonte on the all-time ranks.
Post-game quotes
David Palma, coach, Sabadell
“We were dominating the match from the beginning, built a big advantage but Mataro started pushing hard in the third and especially in the fourth, but we did not stop, kept playing, this was the way to claim this trophy. This is incredible, it seems our teams have no limits, so we are very-very happy.”
Dani Ballart, coach, Mataro
“I think the pressure was so high and we are an inexperienced team, first final… Though we won all our previous games (in the Champions League) but the finals are always different. Sabadell have fantastic talent, huge power, they did not play well in the semi-final yesterday, but you never know when the talent come up again and it did today. As for our offence and 6 on 5, sometimes we try to do exactly the same what we have practiced, the exact passes but this is again inexperience, sometimes you need to look for something different, not stick to the tactics which may not work, and this is where talent and experience comes in. We have one thing in our mind, to win this final. We need to get home, close this down inside ourselves and perhaps cry a bit. You know, the Sun will shine again tomorrow, still, this is a tough moment for all of us. It was our first final but it’s not easy to reach a final, so we’ve missed an opportunity here.”
Sabrina van der Sloot, player, Sabadell
“It was really tough two days, we won by one twice, but everyone could see that we were on the top of this match and could keep our advantage which we had gained in the middle of the game, and this demonstrates the quality of this team. Once we went several goals ahead, that gave us the confidence in what we were doing. Mataro scored some goals from counters, that is their biggest weapon, but we kept our heads cool and finished the game with calm and confidence, that’s why we could win. Well… for me this is the first Champions League trophy, I’m 32, and I was extremely happy as the game ended but when Vivian (Sevenich, Dutch fellow in Mataro) came to me and said that I deserved it, then I… (crying) she knows me, that I give my best every day and to lift this trophy finally, it means a lot to me…”
Bronze medal: Dunaujvarosi v Orizzonte 8-12
Back in early December, on the first day of the prelims Dunaujvaros stunned Orizzonte and managed to grab an 11-11 draw, the result ultimately sent them through to the quarters. The Italians learnt their lesson and in this bronze medal match they didn’t commit the same mistake as four months ago, when they let the Hungarians storm to a 4-1 lead so they had to play a chasing game.
Scoring four in less than four minutes set the tone, they netted two from action, then added two from woman-ups so this time they went 1-4 ahead. Then early in the second they were already 1-6 up, when Dunaujvaros kind of arrived at the game and pulled back two for 3-6. However, Orizzonte didn’t lay back and soon they led by five again, before Krisztina Garda netted her fourth just seconds before the middle break for 5-9.
Defences worked a bit better in the third, especially the Italian as they killed five woman-downs in a row. The Magyars also held on for a while in the back, but in the last minutes Orizzonte managed to put away a 6 on 5, then a 5 on 4, within 49 seconds – Valeria Palmieri and Veronica Gant both had an easy task after the fine set-ups. Here the contest ended at 5-11, even though there were eight more minutes to play.
Since there were a couple of heated scenes and duels, the refs invited the team captains for a small-talk to have a calmer finish, especially with not too much left at stake. This worked, tensions were lowered, just as the pace of the game. The Hungarians could pull back three towards the end, so a 9-12 defeat was followed by an 8-12, something they might have expected beforehand, while Orizzonte bounced back from the disappointing semi-final defeat and claimed the bronze, just like at their previous two appearances in 2014 and 2018.
Post-game quotes
Alice Williams, player, Orizzonte
“We definitely did our homework, we knew which players we had to mark so really proved how much we could learn under such a short time. It was such a tough game, something usual against such a tough team when you play in the Final Four. It was a great experience to play in Sabadell, yesterday in front of this great crowd and I think we can be proud of ourselves. We came here to win gold, so it was disappointing to lose yesterday, especially in such a close game. We are still happy with the bronze, still have room for improving so we’ll carry on fighting.”
Attila Mihok, coach, Dunaujvaros
“As I expected and also asked from the team, they had to give everything and even more to suffer these defeats here. Three of our players, Horvath, Garda and Mahieu hit world-class level today despite being marked really heavily as Orizzonte players knew really well whom to guard and whom to let take the shots. I’m really proud of my players – it was already a miracle that we reached the Final Four. By objective facts, we had better results in the past, played in a final, finished second twice and were bronze medallist three times, still, those who know women’s water polo from the inside, will agree: we achieved a never expected feat by making the F4 with this extremely young team.”
