The
second final of the day would see Club Esportiu
Llefia versus Leek High Boys. With nine games
of football already under their belt the two teams
would need to summon one last burst of energy
to ensure they would be picking up winners and
not runners-up medals in the presentation.
Club
Esportiu Llefia were our Cup winners last year
and they were bidding for Plate success this time
around. Should they be successful they would become
one of a select group of teams who had won both
a Cup and a Plate in eurofootballfives.com tournaments.
They would be just the 7th team across all our
destinations and the second in Barcelona after
Equipo A won the 2011 Barcelona Fives Cup and
2009 Barca Fives Plate.
Club
Esportiu Llefia would start as favourites – not
only due to their pedigree in the Cup last year
but also as they were the top scoring team in
the tournament and had the best goal difference
overall in the tournament. That stat includes
all the teams in the higher Cup competition as
well. They also boasted the tournament's current
top goalscorer with 11 goals – more than Leek
High Boys had scored as a team today.
It
looked like this would be a David and Goliath
tie but that would be to underplay Leek High Boy's
achievements to date. They had 5 wins and 1 draw
from their 9 games so far which is no mean feat.
Club Esportiu Llefia in comparison were 6 wins
and 1 draw so there was little in it from that
perspective.
These
two teams had played before in Group A all the
way back in Round 2 of the group phase – it all
seemed a very long time ago now. Club Esportiu
Llefia won it 4-0 on that occasion. The first
goal in the Cup Final was always likely to prove
crucial not only in pragmatic terms but also on
a psychological level. If Club Esportiu Llefia
got it you could forgive Leek High Boys for thinking
“here we go again” but if the English team were
to get it then it would be a massive boost to
their Plate title credentials.
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