FCBARCELONA.CAT

11.10.2007 22:05

Keeping heroics win it for Barça (34-26)

Verónica Díez

FC Barcelona's handball team have chalked up their third victory in Europe as they defeated French outfit Ivry.

Venio Losert and Kasper Hvidt, were the stars for the home team, while Iker Romero continued his impressive form at the other end by scoring ten goals.

Victory against Ivry saw Barça maintain top spot in their group after a powerful first half performance saw them go in at the break with a 19-13 lead. Despite that, the visitors did not give up hope and came out after the restart looking to bounce back but Losert was in fine form and ensured that they were unable to find a way back into the encounter with several crucial saves.

Ivry have no luck

In past outings, Ivry have relied on a strong defence, but it was certainly not one of their strong points in the opening minutes of this match, but Luc Abalo did pose a constant threat to the Barça rearguard as he scored five times in the opening 26 minutes. Fabrice Guilbert also started well and scored four times as he edged towards becoming the Franch side's top scorer in the game. But while those two players tried their best, the Blaugrana closed them in and Kasper Hvidt was able to limit the damage. In the final seconds of the opening half, Barça opened up their widest lead of the game when Jerome Fernández made it 19-13.

Romero on the attack

The second period began well for the visitors as they tightened up at the back. Fernández did score again for Barça though, but Venio, who had come on for Hvidt, showed that he was equally adept between the sticks as he kept out the Ivry attack.

Iker Romero was the top socrer once again as he broke the French team's defence on numerous occasions and maneged to score ten times.