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CN Sant Andreu loses on penalties and bids farewell to its European dream
CN Sant Andreu will not be able to defend its European title. The Barcelona team fell in the women’s water polo Champions League semi-finals after drawing 11–11 with Ferencváros and losing in a penalty shoot-out that ended the match in the cruellest way.
The defeat leaves Barcelona without a representative in the grand final and hits a team that arrived wounded after also losing the national league to Mataró. Javi Aznar's side came very close to responding to a difficult week, but the outcome slipped away again on the finest of margins.
Sant Andreu produced a very solid first half. Martina Terré kept the team going in goal, Gisel·la Farré opened the scoring and Elena Ruiz took on the attacking burden with a leader's performance. With goals from Queralt Anton and Robin Jutte, the Catalan side went into the break with a hopeful 3-6.
Ferencváros, however, did not give up. The Hungarian team raised the tempo after the restart and began to close the gap, with Rita Keszthelyi-Nagy, Dorottya Szilagyi and Eleftheria Plevritou as the main threats. Every attack began to carry more weight and the match entered a phase of maximum tension.
Elena Ruiz kept Sant Andreu alive with impeccable efficiency: five goals from five shots. Maria Palacio and Nona Pérez also came through at important moments, but the team failed to see out the contest when it seemed to have it within closer reach.
With 52 seconds remaining, Noa de Vries scored for 11-11 and took the semi-final to penalties. There, parity remained until the final shot, but Ferencváros ultimately prevailed 15-14 and left Sant Andreu with no chance to retain the European crown.
The blow is hard because the team once again competed on equal terms against one of the continent's great powers. Elimination does not erase the growth of a group that has established itself among the elite, but it does leave the bitter feeling of having had the final very close.
For the Sant Andreu neighbourhood and for Barcelona water polo, the defeat hurts because of the context and the manner. The club remains a benchmark for its youth development work, its ambition and the emergence of players such as Elena Ruiz and Martina Terré. This time there was no final, but CN Sant Andreu once again showed that it belongs in Europe's top tier.