As the 2017 Barcelona Fives Cup Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament. We had four nationalities in with a chance of glory – Denmark, England, France and Spain were all gunning for tournament success.

We started on Pitch A with Spider Mans & Eagle versus Naranjitos. Spider Mans & Eagle had qualified for the Cup for the sixth time in eight tournaments. It was the second time the Eagles squad had won their group in one of our tournaments. The last time they went all the way to the Cup Final at the 2016 Krakow Trophy.

Naranjitos had crashed out of the tournament at this exact same stage and on the exact same pitch last year (1-0 to The Spice Boys).

With the game underway it was 0-0 for a long period but the deadlock was to be broken. The goal went to Mario Alvarez of Naranjitos – it was his first goal of the day and what a time to get it! Spider Mans & Eagle had been behind before today though and comeback. They came back from 3-0 down and 2-0 down to claim a draw and a win respectively. They needed just one goal to force this game into a penalty shoot-out at least. The difference here was that in the group games when they fell behind, they conceded early. Time was against Spider Mans & Eagle here and an equalizing goal ultimately proved to be elusive.

It seemed unfair to say goodbye to Spider Mans & Eagle after being unbeaten to date but then one slip up meant they were out. Naranjitos would have some sympathy though as the same happened to them last year after 7 wins from 7 in the group.

Up next on Pitch B was Team Extreme versus Elcombe Old Boys which promised to be an intriguing game.

Team Extreme had been almost perfect in the group phase. They had 6 wins out of 7 as they took the Group C title. It was their third Group win in our tournaments (after 2014 Amsterdam Fives & 2016 Prague Tournament). They were the top scoring team in the group phase with 24 goals – this was the joint highest total ever in an 8-team group at the Barcelona Fives. It equaled Ireland's Smithfield OAPs from last year. They also had the best goal difference from the group phase, +19 (also a joint record with Smithfields OAPs from last year).

The first part of Elcombe Old Boys' title defence was complete – qualify for the Cup. They were now just 3 games from becoming only the second team to successfully defend a eurofootballfives.com title. They had conceded just 5 goals today (same as Team Extreme) but had only scored 11 goals which was less than half of their opponents. It is always difficult to compare groups and the relative strength of teams in each group but Team Extreme's prowess in front of goal could be a factor in his game.

It was Elcombe Old Boys who struck first with Alan Ritchie finding the perfect moment to score his first goal of the tournament. This would be a real test of Team Extreme's forward line. Elcombe Old Boys had kept 3 clean sheets in a row and only conceded 1 in 4. Chika Kalu of Team Extreme passed the test as he equalized with his seventh goal of the tournament.

The game then appeared to be heading towards a penalty shoot-out until a moment of brilliance from Martin Nash. He managed to score direct from a corner to put Elcombe Old Boys 2-1 up and win the game.

We had to say farewell to Team Extreme who continue their hunt for a maiden eurofootballfives.com title. After an exhilarating group phase we thought it could be today but, alas for them, it was not to be.

Quarter-Final three saw Galacticos take on L'Albiceleste. This would be a really tough one to call. A look at the group phase records of the two teams showed that both teams recorded 5 wins and 2 draws from 7 games with 17 points each. L'Albiceleste were the joint third top scoring team in the group phase with 18 goals and a goal difference of +14. Galacticos were not far behind with 15 goals scored, 4 goals conceded (same as L'Albiceleste) and a goal difference of +11. Galacticos were the Group B winners, L'Albiceleste were second in Group A.

L'Albiceleste had mixed experience of Cup Quarter-Finals in our tournaments – they had won one, drawn one (won on penalties) and lost two. Galacticos had a very good record in Cup Quarter-Finals with 2 wins and 1 drew. At the 2009 Barca Fives they beat the defending champions Rapid Bosco Navas 1-0. At the 2010 Valencia Fives they destroyed Dickie Dogs 7-0. Then, at the 2013 Algarve Open they drew 0-0 with Sergio Cristina before losing 3-2 on penalties.

Galacticos had scored 8 goals without reply in the Cup Quarter-Finals…until now. Fateh Bekhouche's third goal of the tournament put the French team ahead. Galacticos roared back into it with Adam Patel equalizing for 1-1 before Yaaseen Patel put the English team ahead at 2-1. L'Albiceleste were staring at elimination before Cedric Castarede's seventh goal of the tournament saw them draw level at 2-2.

A penalty shoot-out would be required to decide this one. Galacticos had lost their only shoot-out in our tournaments whereas L'Albiceleste had won both of theirs (both at the 2016 Riga Tournament). L'Albiceleste made it 3 out of 3 here as Cedric Castarede and Antoine Loscul were both successful with their spot kicks. Mickael Martin was the hero in the French goal as Galacticos were unable to beat him with each of their penalties.

We had to say farewell to Galacticos and we would like to thank them for making the journey to the tournament. If they had won the penalty shoot-out who knows what might have been? Could they have gone all the way? There are rumours abound that they may be able to join us in Lisbon 2018. If so, we look forward to seeing you then.

The final Quarter-Final was Danish Dynamites versus Fiorentina Turner 2. Those reading the Trophy and Plate reports will have seen us rank the 8 qualifying teams in order. If we were to rank the 8 teams in the Cup competition based upon their points tally and separating those on equal points by goal difference the teams would rank like this:

It showed how strong this tournament was that the 2015 champions did not qualify for the knockout phase and that the 2016 champions Elcombe Old Boys were in 7th in the above list. Elcombe Old Boys were sandwiched by Danish Dynamites who finished above them in Group D and Fiorentina Turner 2 who qualified as the second placed team in Group C.

Danish Dynamites secured an extra point compared to their English opposition in this one and were three goals better off in terms of goal difference. The bookies would have made them favourites for this one and they'd have been correct. Kasper Moller opened the scoring with his second of the day to give the Danes a 1-0 lead. Jens Bodker Knudsen was the team's highest scorer today and he bagged his eighth of the tournament to make it 2-0.

Fiorentina Turner 2 were unable to recover and we saw them exit the tournament. The Fiorentina Turner group still had interest in the tournament with the ‘1' team gunning for glory and aiming to be “Simply The Best” in the Plate competition.