BARÇA EDGES AALBORG FOR RECORD-EXTENDING 11TH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE
record-extending 11th title beating Aalborg Håndbold 31-30 in a thrilling clash in the EHF Handball Champions League Final Four 2024 in Cologne, Germany, on Sunday (9 June).
The European club handball season came to a dramatic conclusion with Aalborg’s last shot striking the crossbar to sink their chances of winning their first Champions League title.
Danish outfit Aalborg had a mountain to climb in only their second EHF Champions League final going up against 11-time champions Barcelona. The match was a rerun of the 2021 final where Barça won their ninth title in a 36-23 demolition.
The Catalans would have no walkover this time around with Aalborg refusing to give an inch against the all-time champions.
The Spanish got the rub of the green early on in the clash taking a three-point lead with prolific scorer Dika Mem giving his side the edge with three points to his name in the first 10 minutes.
Aalborg scored two consecutive goals to equalise at 8-8 before Barça restored their advantage to two points.
The Danish team took the lead for the first time shortly before the half-time break thanks to a Mads Hoxer goal. But their excitement was short-lived with Barça levelling the scores at 15-15 at the interval.
The match continued to ebb and flow in the second half with neither of the sides getting ascendency as the lead exchanged hands until the very end.
Barça held a slight one-point edge with five minutes to go and held on to the precarious lead as the clock wound down.
The match came to a climactic conclusion with Mikkel Hansen striking the crossbar from a free throw in the dying seconds to avoid overtime and hand Barça their 12th Champions League title.
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