Zodiac Atletic Barceloneta will travel to Malta for the Champions League Final Four with belief, momentum and one major setback.
The Spanish champions are aiming to win the second Champions League title in their history, twelve years after their famous 2014 triumph. But Fran Fernandez’s side will have to do it without Vince Vigvari, who has been ruled out through a hand injury suffered in the second match of the Liga final against CN Sabadell.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Vigvari suffered a broken bone in his right hand, leaving him unable to train in the water in the days leading up to the Final Four. His absence is a major blow for Barceloneta, not only because of his quality, but because of his importance within the group.
Fernandez, however, has refused to use the injury as an excuse.
“We’ll spend ten minutes lamenting Vince’s absence because it’s tough for the team emotionally to lose a player with such influence and emotional weight,” Fernandez told Mundo Deportivo. “But we have faith in the players we have, we have other options, and we’ll get through this.”
Vigvari’s injury also removes one of the more intriguing subplots of the semi-final, with Barceloneta set to face FTC Telekom, where his brother Vendel Vigvari is one of the Hungarian side’s key players.
But despite losing one of their biggest attacking weapons, Barceloneta arrive in Malta with confidence. The club have enjoyed an outstanding season under Fernandez, who replaced Elvis Fatovic at the beginning of the campaign. They won the Spanish league title, finished top of their Champions League quarter-final group, and have not lost a match in months.
“We arrive with joy, not with the pressure of having to win,” Fernandez told Mundo Deportivo. “The season is going very well; we haven’t lost a match in months, and our league position is brilliant because we’ve won in every pool.”
Barceloneta have been regulars at this stage of the competition, with this year marking their ninth appearance among Europe’s top four since 2013. Yet only once have they reached the final: in 2014, when they went on to lift the trophy at the Picornell pool.
There are obvious parallels with that famous campaign. In 2014, Chus Martin won the Champions League in his first season as head coach. Now Fernandez, also in his first year leading the team, is trying to repeat the story.
“It would be nice to repeat the story of 2014, Chus Martin’s first year, when we were champions,” Fernandez said. “But the statistics don’t tell the whole story.”
The feeling around Barceloneta is that this year’s side is different. After the departures of Felipe Perrone and Alvaro Granados, the team has had to evolve. Rather than relying on one or two central figures, Fernandez believes Barceloneta have become more balanced and less predictable.
“It’s true that this year our attacking play is more spread out among more players,” he told Mundo Deportivo. “Last year, Alvaro was a key player who absorbed a lot of the ball. This year, we’ve tried to distribute that pressure among the players, and perhaps that makes us more unpredictable.”
That collective strength will now be tested against the defending champions. FTC arrive with a squad full of star quality, including Edoardo Di Somma, Stylianos Argyropoulos, Dusan Mandic, Krisztian Manhercz, Szilard Jansik and Miguel de Toro.
Fernandez, though, does not see a clear favourite in Malta.
“I don’t think there are any favourites,” he said. “It’s the first year the Final Four is so open and any of the four teams can be champion. Ferencvaros is the current champion, but we want the crown.”
For Barceloneta, the challenge is not only about stopping FTC. Fernandez believes the focus must remain on their own identity.
“My concern is that we believe in our plan and in what we do well,” he said. “It’s not about Ferencvaros, it’s about us.”
He added: “We must play our game and bring the intensity to the match. We are two very strong, high-quality teams with excellent shooters. They have a good goalkeeper. We have our own tools, and we believe this is about knowing how to compete on the crucial day.”
For a club that has been chasing a second European crown for over a decade, the opportunity is clear. Barceloneta may be without Vigvari, but their message heading to Malta is one of collective belief.
“The pressure is what we put on ourselves, and it’s not a negative thing,” Fernandez said. “We want to approach that pressure from a positive perspective: not the obligation to do it, but the desire to do it.”
Twelve years after their first Champions League title, Barceloneta are once again within touching distance of Europe’s biggest prize. This time, their hopes rest on the strength of the group.
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