As the 2018 Barcelona Fives Cup Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament. We had six nationalities in with a chance of glory – France (x2), Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal and Spain (x2) were all gunning for tournament success.

We started on Pitch A and the one thing that was guaranteed was that Spain would have a team in the Semi-Finals. The two Spanish Quarter-Finalists would meet face-to-face as Club Esportiu Llefia took on AFC Underworld. This was the second time Club Esportiu Llefia had reached the Cup Quarter-Finals. The last time they went all the way to the Cup Final as they claimed the 2015 Barcelona Fives title.

We expected a tight game as these two teams had the best defensive records from the group phase. Ramon Batet in the Club Esportiu Llefia goal had conceded just once all morning. AFC Underworld rotated their goalkeeper but conceded just two goals.

It proved to be a tight game and just the one goal decided matters. A first half strike from Dani Martin Montes – his sixth of the day – ultimately won the game for his team and sent them through to the Semi-Finals.

It seemed unfair to say goodbye to AFC Underworld after being unbeaten to date but then one slip up meant they were out. We hope they will return next year.

Up next on Pitch B was LT United versus Los Portugalitos which promised to be an intriguing game.

LT United were our Plate winners here last year and had been very impressive in the group phase today with 4 wins out of 4. No team had ever won our Plate tournament and then followed this up with a Cup win a year later – LT United could well be the first based upon today's form.

Los Portugalitos had won one of our tournaments – they were the 2015 Algarve Open champions (playing under the name of Futeboladas). They had won 4 out of 5 games today with their only loss being in their very first game to a very good Greek team.

It was LT United who emerged victorious. Edgaras Buzas finished top scorer at last year's tournament with 14 goals. He scored his fifth today to give his side a 1-0 lead. Dalius Kisla scored his second of the tournament and his team's second of the game to make it 2-0 and clinch the victory. Tomas Urbanavicius kept his third clean sheet of the competition.

We had to say farewell to Los Portugalitos who continue their hunt for a second eurofootballfives.com title. We hope to see them in the Algarve again in 2019 and maybe elsewhere on our circuit too.

The final Quarter-Final was AC Mazi 1996 versus Expats FC Paris. 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 should be noted that Group C had one less game than the other groups but this did show us that we had strongest team in the group phase up against Expats FC Paris. AC Mazi were the only team to secure 5 wins, they scored the most goals and had the best goal difference.

Expats FC Paris would need a monumental effort to go through to the next round. AC Mazi 1996 continued their group form into the knockout stage and brushed aside their opponents.

AC Mazi 1996 established a 4-0 lead before half-time and then declared on 7-0 at full-time. Thanasaj Laerto continued his goal scoring form with a hat-trick plus there was two goals from Babis Pelekis and strikes from Mario Ntatis and Gjeloshi Etmond.

For Expats FC Paris there was no disgrace in losing to such strong opposition – one of the strongest in all of our 102 tournaments to date. On another day, at another tournament they could well have gone all the way.