The 2012 Barcelona Fives Final would see Black Sheep play Saipan FC as Spain met Ireland. Who was going to triumph? Let's have a look at their records;

Black Sheep

Including today's games thus far the Black Sheep had an impressive eurofootballfives record of:

Played 17, Won 10, Drawn 5*, Lost 2. (2 draws converted to wins via Golden Goal, 2 lost on penalties).

They had scored 32 goals and conceded just 13.

They had not lost in normal time since 2009 and made the Cup on 3 successive appearances making the Quarter-Finals in '09, the Semi-Finals in '11 and the Final here today. In the Cup phase they had only been eliminated via penalties.

Saipan FC

Saipan FC had played in 2 tournaments including today and claimed the following record:

Played 12, Won 6, Drawn 3*, Lost 4. (2 draw converted to wins via Golden Goal and Penalties)

They had scored 18 goals and conceded 9.

Before today a 2 nd place finish in the 2011 Prague Masters was their zenith. This ‘Cup' run was new territory for them.

If you looked at the two records you would have to make Black Sheep the favourites and on the balance of play today, Saipan FC would certainly make this a contest. Over the course of the game there was little to choose between the two sides and goalscoring opportunities were limited. What chances there were were gobbled up by the two goalkeepers. You could argue that Magnier in the Saipan FC goal was slightly the busier but he dealt with everything extremely competently. It was no surprise the game finished 0-0.

If you look at the two records above you can see that Saipan FC had a 100% record of going on to win whereas the Black Sheep only had a 50% success rate – both by Golden Goal. If it was going to penalties then the Black Sheep would have to win their first penalty shoot-out in eurofootballfives.com competition.

For all the world this game looked like it was going to penalties until….

….it is often said that in tight games like this it takes a moment of brilliance or a mistake to settle the tie. In this final it was a mixture of good skill with a bit of luck. Albert Marx Garcia picked the ball up and took a punt from mid-range. The ball took a deflection and left Magnier helpless. It was a good effort from Albert Marx Garcia from a tight angle but without the deflection it was not going in.

Our commiserations go to Saipan FC for coming so close to a maiden tournament win and losing the Final in such an unfortunate way. We congratulate Black Sheep on a first Barcelona Fives title and we are sure it will not be their last!

On a personal note, we would like to congratulate our Top Goalscorer, Luiz Naufel of Budapest Celtic Pumas, with a phenomenal return of 15 goals.

We send our congratulations to all the teams who participated in what was a great day's competition. The tournament had everything and we look forward to seeing you all again very soon.