Welcome to Spain for the 16th edition of the Barcelona Fives football tournament. The tournament was originally scheduled for October 2020 but was postponed due to Covid so we'd had to wait longer than normal to kick-off but a visit to Barcelona is always worth the wait.

The first phase of the 2021 Barcelona Fives would be decided on a group basis with two groups with 5 teams in each group. The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in each group would progress to the Cup competition. The teams finishing 3rd and 4th in each group would progress to the Plate competition. The teams finishing 5th in each group would play-off for the Wooden Spoon.

We kicked off Group A with FC Tpaktop versus FC Maroon. FC Tpaktop were representing the former Soviet Union as although their players were from (now) different countries they were all born in the former USSR. They were on debut in our events and playing the experienced FC Maroon. It was the latter who made the initial breakthrough in this context as captain Max Hill fired his team ahead in the opening period.

The 2nd half saw FC Tpaktop draw level as their captain, Leonid Sislo, cracked home the equaliser. In the final moments of the game FC Maroon also struck a winner as Ed Cotter saw his effort clip the post but there was to be no further edition to the score. Honours even, 1-1.

The last team to get their campaign underway was Maresmex as they took on FC Tpaktop.

Maresmex were a late entry into the tournament and were only confirmed a couple of days before kick-off to replace Rapid Bosco who could no longer attend. It reminded us of when Denmark replaced Yugoslavia at the 1992 European Championships and famously went on to win the tournament. Could Maresmex prove to be the “Denmark” of the 2021 Barcelona Fives?

After the early exchanges it looked like they could well be. Alejandro Mediano and Sergi Trujillo were pulling the strings and it was the latter who put the Spanish team 1-0 up. FC Tpaktop already had a game under their belts and proved they could recover from going a goal behind. For the second game in a row they produced an equaliser with Artiom Vlasov this time pulling them level.

The second half kicked off with the teams all square at 1-1 but it would not finish that way. Alejandro Mediano would regain the lead for his team and he also hit the post towards the end. Ultimately hitting the woodwork didn't matter as the Spanish got off to a winning start, 2-1.

FC Maroon were next in action on Pitch A as they entertained Epsilon Rovers. Both teams started with a solid opening point and were looking to kick on with a victory here.

Epsilon Rovers were bidding to add their name to a select list of teams that had won their first two tournaments with us – the others are Olympic Phil Babb (won their first 4), Athletico Do Hollande, Skidmarks, ABC United and Big Time Krakow. Following that opening draw they looked like they would be back to winning ways here as they established a 2-0 first half lead. Phil Morris bagged their first goal of the day before Nick Petrou doubled the advantage.

FC Maroon were making their 3rd appearance here at the Barcelona Fives. An injury hit campaign at the 2015 Barcelona Fives saw them finish 5th in Group E before a resounding 7-1 win in the Trophy Play-off. They then went out 6-2 to FC Atwood in the QF. Despite a troubled campaign, Matt Alawi was the second top goalscorer in the tournament with 8 goals. They made the journey to Catalunya again for the 2019 Barcelona Fives and began well with a 1-0 win over VNV (NL) and a 1-1 draw against Bracknell Vets (Eng). Their third game was the stuff of legend, a simply sensational 1-0 win over Greek team Sintetrimeni. The Greek side went on to win the tournament. From the sublime to the ridiculous as FC Maroon lost 2-1 to the bottom team Footballab, a hangover maybe from their efforts in the Greek win. A 2-0 defeat to Northern Town in the final group game saw them finish third in the table and qualify for the Plate. The Quarter-Final saw them drawn against Paralytic Athletic where they were eliminated on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

Here in 2021, Jez McDonald pulled a vital goal back for FC Maroon before half-time to give them hope in the second half. However, there was no further addition to the score as Epsilon Rovers claimed the three points.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group A was to be AFC Basemen versus Maresmex.

AFC Basemen were making their third eurofootballfives.com appearance in 2021. Their debut was at the 2018 Lisbon Tournament. They made a good impression in Portugal with 3-1 wins over ASCPM (Mor) and FC United of Bob (Eng). A 2-2 draw versus FC Broxelona A (Eng) continued their unbeaten run before defeat to a very good Danish Dynamites (Den) team. They finished second in Group B to qualify for the Cup. They lost at the Quarter-Final stage to Wessex FC.

They then appeared at the 2019 Mallorca Fives where they began with solid 0-0 & 1-1 draws against Inter Balear & Neptune Rams. Defeat to the defending champions (Bar Maruru) followed before a fine 1-0 victory over Portugal's Hellgarve Krakens. A 1-0 win and then 1-0 defeat followed as they finished 4 th in the table. They qualified for the Plate and produced a 2-1 win over Red Cow Belgrade and a penalty win over Gosham Rangers after a 1-1 draw. A first European final saw a narrow 1-0 defeat to GHSFC.

Today they could be proud of holding the current Amsterdam Fives champions to a draw and they were proving equally tough to beat against a high quality Maresmex team. The two teams were unable to be separated at half-time and at full-time. Final score, 0-0.