CAIRO — Al-Ahly delivered one of the best performances in their history, to clinch a prestigious win in the bronze medal match of the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship, 32:29, against FC Barcelona, securing the third place in the final standings of the competition held in the New Administrative Capital, in Egypt.
Finishing with two losses in two matches, Barcelona ended up on the fourth place, their lowest-ever finish in the competition, as the Spanish side had always secured a podium place in their previous eight appearances.
Even the most optimist fan of Al-Ahly could not believe its eyes when their favourite team, the hosts of the 2024 IHF Men’s Club World Championship boasted an eight-goal lead, 16:8, after 23 minutes against FC Barcelona.
Sure, it was the bronze medal match of this edition of the world club handball flagship competition, but such a win would have been one of Al-Ahly’s most prestigious in history, with a flawless performance in those 23 minutes, keeping Barcelona at bay in both attacks in defence.
Four days ago, Barcelona had no issues of disposing of the Egyptian side in the preliminary round, 31:23, but here was Al-Ahly, on the cusp of history, delivering blow after blow to the reigning Machineseeker EHF Champions League and creating a huge lead.
In its history, Al-Ahly had only won once against an European side in the IHF Men’s Club World Championship, 29:28 against SL Benfica, two years ago, but here, they were unchained, with a great defence and a fantastic attack, led by right back Mohsen Ramadan, who scored five goals in the first half and was the top scorer of the match, with seven goals.
While goalkeeper Mohamed Ibrahim saved 10 shots for a 42 per cent saving efficiency, with six saves more than Gonzalo Perez de Vargas and Emil Nielsen combined, it was clear that Al-Ahly were heading to an incredible result, dominating the proceedings against a side which looked dumbfounded.
But an experienced team like Barcelona will never back down from a challenge. And with right wing Blaz Janc in excellent form, also scoring five goals, the gap was lower at the end of the first half, as in the last seven minutes of the first half, Barca nearly matched their output from the previous 23 minutes, cutting Al-Ahly’s lead to only three goals, 18:15.
A strong start to the second half saw Barcelona cut the lead to a single goal, 23:22, after 39 minutes, but Al-Ahly were not done and dusted, IHF official website reported.
A team time-out called by coach Stefan Madsen rejuvenated the Egyptian side, which continued to control the match, extending their lead back to three goals, 26:23, when there were only 13 minutes left.
Once again, Barcelona’s magic seemed to have faded on the way, with their attack still missing key shots, enabling the hosts, which seemed back on their usual way of scoring with ease, to continue hoping for a fantastic win, with Al-Ahly’s second goalkeeper, Abdelrahman Taha, working wonders between the posts, with six saves and a 55 per cent saving efficiency with four minutes to go.
By that time, Al-Ahly was up four goals, 31:27, with Barcelona having a very slim margin for error.
And while the Egyptian side did collapse in the semi-final against Magdeburg in the last 15 minutes, this time around, the lead which they protected throughout the whole game was not lost.
Indeed, Barcelona could not pull any miracles, with Al-Ahly eventually sealing the 32:29 win, the largest against an European side, after a fantastic well-rounded performance from the Egyptian side, which produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship.
Al-Ahly finished on the podium of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship for the second time in history, after the second place in 2007, when the competition was also held in Egypt.
This was also their second win in history against an European side, but arguably one of the best ones for the Egyptian club.
On the other side, Barcelona lost two matches in the same edition of the IHF Men’s Club World Championship for the first time in history and finished outside the podium places also for the first time, signalling that the most decorated club’s era in the history of the competition might just be over.
