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Barcelona's Thiagus Petrus celebrates the Champions League title together with Raúl Entrerríos
Photo: THILO SCHMUELGEN / REUTERS
FC Barcelona ended their perfect season with a show of force. In the final of the Champions League, the Catalans clearly defeated the Danish outsider Aalborg Handbold, in the Cologne Lanxess Arena Barcelona won 36:23 (16:11). With the 61st win in the 61st game of the season, Barça made the triple of national championship, cup win and triumph in the premier class perfect. Never before had a team won all 20 Champions League games in one season.
Right winger Aleix Gómez was the best scorer of his team with nine hits in front of 500 spectators.
For the third time after 2011 and 2015, the team under head coach Xavi Pascual, who will leave the club after twelve years, won the Champions League.
With nine title wins since the competition was launched in 1994 and one triumph in the National Champions' Cup in 1991, Blaugrana are record winners in Europe's most important club competition.
Third place in the Final Four tournament went to Paris St. Germain with a 31:28 (17:13) win in the French duel with HBC Nantes.
Barcelona had prevailed on Saturday in the semifinals against Nantes 31:26 and thus made it into the final, as in the previous season.
At that time Barça lost against the German record champions THW Kiel.
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