The whims of handball referees

Valero Ribera, the greatest handball coach in history, during his time as manager of the Dream Team , always used to be very suspicious of refereeing, especially away games. No sport has rules that allow as much leeway for interpretation as handball. The referee's judgment can decide the outcome of a match very arbitrarily. This is what happened to Barça in their Champions League semi-final match against Magdeburg, where they were clearly outnumbered after losing three players to red cards. In the final possession, when the fate of the match was decided, Carlos Ortega's team, with only three defenders, was at the mercy of their opponents, who annihilated them in the final second with a goal from Hornke that knocked out the reigning champions.

Despite attempts to adapt to modern times with the use of new technologies such as instant replay, the margin of decision remains too wide when it comes to discerning, for example, between a suspension and a red card expulsion. This happened in Cologne, where the wetness of the court's parquet floor wasn't ideal, as evidenced by Ariño's red card. To make matters worse, the Blaugrana were without their most important player, full-back Dika Mem, who was injured in the final quarter of an hour.

Placing the blame for the defeat on refereeing decisions wouldn't be entirely fair, given the impact the financial cuts have had on the Palau, which has affected the sections to cope with the club's struggling economy. For the first time in many years, Barça won't win a European Cup this season, and future prospects aren't very optimistic. In handball, as many as ten players played their last game in the Blaugrana jersey in this final four, starting with the iconic goalkeeping duo of Nielsen and Pérez de Vargas. Meanwhile, in basketball, coach Peñarroya was left helpless, unable to cover any of the numerous injured players (Laprovittola, Vesely, Núñez, and Metu), with no replacements.

The exciting moment the club is experiencing due to the successful season of Hansi Flick's young team, the emotional driving force of the club, has not been matched at the European level by the different sections. The question of the future of the Palau Blaugrana remains open, and for now, no one knows or has an answer. And this is the most worrying aspect.