Carlos Ortega, Barcelona handball coach: "Often, I have no choice but to look the other way."

Not long ago, a brief argument with a player got him thinking. “What are you telling me! I was already playing before you were even born,” he blurted out. He then pondered the passage of time, the hierarchy that perhaps the years were taking away from him. “The locker room looks at your CV, and although when I arrived here I had won leagues and reached the Final Four as a coach, what I had accomplished on the court was much more impressive, with six European Cups,” says Antonio Carlos Ortega (Málaga; 53 years old), Barça handball coach. He knows what he's talking about, having landed on the Barça bench amidst suspicious glances, on a team that had won all 61 matches it had played the previous season. But he knew how to win over the group, such as winning two more Champions League titles in three editions—which could be three in four— again in the Final Four , today in the semifinals against the powerful Magdeburg (6:00 p.m., DAZN). If they win, they would face off against the winner of Füchse Berlin—the favorite—and Nantes. "These titles have given me more prestige, and I think I can earn more as a coach," he reflects from his modest office at the Ciutat Esportiva.

Driven by his interest and conditioned by his ailing knee, Ortega focused on coaching before retiring, then in the Barça youth team. He attended clinics and university, a student of Xesco Espar (who was his coach in his final year as a Barça player) and former national team coach Juan Carlos Pastor, still using his notebook as a work tool. “As I was an elite player, at first I was interested in performance. Then in training and later in group management and even in being politically correct to get along with those around me,” he says, after spells with Antequera, Vezprem in Hungary, the Japanese national team, Kolding in Norway and Hannover in Germany. Then it was his turn to join a champion Barça. And it wasn't easy .

“The locker room didn't understand the change. They looked at me as if to say, ‘What the hell did I want to play if they'd already won everything?’” he explains; “and I tried to win over some players by giving them playing time, which is why we lost a few games due to my poor decision.” But he realized his mistake and focused on his own, able to convince the group with his commitment, his approach, and his hard work. “I didn't doubt what I was doing, but it was a difficult time because we felt people's rejection. But over time, we earned their respect,” he reflects. A rule he still applies.

Having worked with Valero at Barça , he discovered the method of many sticks and few carrots, toughness and few arguments. “He was like that, but what he did was spectacular because it's one thing to have very good players and another to win like that. He prepared a lot for games, the video era began… And he was demanding, but he was the first to push himself. I paid close attention to that because if you don't set an example, this doesn't work,” he admits. Although he clarifies: “Sports and society have changed around politics. Now, I don't know if that would work as well. Everyone plans, prepares, and trains well, but the difference is how you manage egos.” That's why it's important for Ortega to get to know his players. “I always say my door is open, let them come into the office. Very few do,” he says. So when he sees something that worries him, he has five or six individual meals a year. But he doesn't want to end up in the friend zone. “There can be misunderstandings, and I want to demand and push everyone,” he says.

It so happens, however, that Barça has a peculiarity due to its overwhelming superiority, having won every domestic tournament since 2013. “Maintaining the group's competitiveness is what I struggle most. In fact, sometimes in La Liga, I have no choice but to look the other way,” he admits bluntly; “I can't constantly push them. Maybe we've played a bad game and won by seven ; well, you have to swallow it.” Although he always finds ways to motivate them, such as small challenges, conversations, and, above all, indoor soccer matches before training, which is what the group likes most. And he admits the precariousness of the Asobal League. “Perhaps it would make us better to play against or close scores. We would like this to be like it was 15 years ago, with San Antonio, Valladolid, Ademar… But it isn't,” he concludes.

Although this year, after several seasons untouchable, Barça lost two consecutive matches, already with the league title in hand. “Every year goes through a critical moment,” Ortega points out; “and we weren't fresh due to the physical strain, some players didn't have a team for next year, others were perhaps unhappy about not playing… Everything influences that. But we gave ourselves a few days off and came back clean. It's not easy to face the highest demands every day.” That's what they have, once again, in Cologne.

“Magdeburg plays one-on-one, with a good defense and a more static attack because they move their bench less than we do. They've beaten us more than we've beaten them in recent years,” admits Ortega, who insists he only prepared for this match because it's unknown who will reach the final, even though everyone, including him, favors Füchse. “But the favorite doesn't always win,” he insists. Although Ortega, the only team with eight Champions League titles (6 as a player; 2 as a coach ), usually does, winning even when the locker room was on edge. Because his little book, no matter how much time blurs his resume, serves its purpose.