It is without exaggeration when we say that the 2009 Barcelona Fives was the closest Cup competition we've ever had in all of our 14 tournaments to date. Usually when the Cup draw is made we have a fair idea of who the winners will be – even if they don't go on to win it then we can spot a favourites defeat as an upset.

At the Quarter-Finals stage we were unable to call it and now we were in the semi-finals we had no further clue of which of the final four teams would lift the trophy. The quarter-finals had been so close it was going to be purely down to whoever played better in the game in question and maybe with a bit of luck along the way.

The semi-final between 3 Lions FC and Anglo Knights provided all the evidence for this as both teams had reached this stage courtesy of a penalty shoot-out. Each team had conceded just the one goal in the tournament to date and it was therefore no surprise that both defences were on top in the first half with few chances for either side. The second half began with the score still 0-0 but not for long though as Tim Heeman, with his third goal of the tournament, put the Anglo Knights 1-0 up. 3 Lions FC as you would expect pushed for the equalizer and with only a couple of minutes to go thought they had rescued a draw as Lewis Danbury bundled the ball into the back of the net. The eagle eyed referee had spotted a hand in the build up (which the 3 Lions admitted) and the ‘goal' was disallowed. In the end there was to be no equalizer and the Anglo Knights had made it through to the final.

Commiserations to the 3 Lions who had done superbly to reach a semi-final at their first attempt in eurofootballfives.com competition. We will see them in action in the Prague Trophy this October where they will be aiming to go at least one stage further.

The remaining place in the Final would be taken by the winners of Bloomberg FC and Torpedo Raval. Bloomberg FC were the last remaining hope for British involvement in the final. Torpedo Raval were aiming to prevent this and set-up an all-Spanish final and guarantee a home nation winner.

By half-time we were no closer to finding out who would take their place in the final. At 0-0 the game was perfectly poised and we could be set-up for another long game. There would be goals in this game and it was Paul Smillie of Bloomberg FC who scored the first. He gave Bloomberg FC the lead as they now had one foot in the final. One foot became two when Alex Tsirigotis doubled the lead and bar a miracle comeback they would be in the final. That comeback never materialized and the game finished 2-0.