Reus Deportivo & UD Oliveirense Meeting in the Final of the 2017 Euroleague of Rink Hockey

The Reus Deportivo and the UD Oliveirense both qualified in pain for the final of the Men’s 2017 Euroleague of Rink Hockey, eliminating in gruelling semi-final matches the two key teams, the FC Barcelona (playing at home) and the SL Benfica (the defending champions).

Semi-Final #1: FC Barcelona 0 – 1 Oliveirense

The “Pavilló Barris Nord” Arena of Lleida, Spain, and its 2.000 spectators witnessed the clash between the FC Barcelona and Oliveirense, in a game with not a single point scored in the allocated time. They had to wait until the 39th second of the second period of extra time to see Ricardo Barreiros offer the victory to Oliveirense. The Lusitanians of Oliveira de Azeméis qualified for the second time in a row.

Semi-Final #2: Reus Deportivo 5 – 6 SL Benfica

The second semi-final seemed to last forever. The Reus Deportivo and the SL Benfica kept on attacking and fighting back. Casanovas opened the scores for Reus after less than a minute on a penalty (1-0). Benfica equalized a few minutes later thanks to a shot by Diogo Rafel (1-1), and then took the lead with a second point scored by Joao Rodrigues (1-2). Before the end of the first period, Raul Marin and Albert Casanovas equalized and gave the lead back to Reus (3-2).

In second period, Benfica turned the game around with goals by Nicolia (3-3) et Adroher (3-4), but Matias Platero equalized again for Reus (4-4) at the very end of the allocated time.

The game continued with extra time. At the end of the first extra time period, Benfica had two occasions to make the difference on a blue card given to Platero, but Nicolia missed his shot, and the Portuguese team didn’t make the most of their two minutes of numerical superiority.

At the penalty shootouts, only Nicolia scored for Benfica, while Reus scored twice, with Salvat and Casanovas.

The Reus Deportivo will then meet the UD Oliveirense in the final of the 2017 Euroleague of Rink Hockey.