Since May 18, 2017, Atlètic-Barceloneta did not know what it was like to lose in the domestic competition until this Saturday. 119 games have passed in which the sailors have dominated the men’s Division of Honor with an iron fist, but all the great streaks have an expiration date. On matchday four, CN Sabadell conquered the Sant Sebastià pool and won 8-11, so Elvis Fatovic’s team, five and a half years later, left the pool defeated. In the Champions League they are more used to defeat although they have played the last eight finals.
After a first set dominated by Barceloneta (4-1), the Vallesano group has begun to carburize. Just a month before, he had already been about to force penalties in the Spanish Super Cup held in the Can Llong pool (7-8). Those of Quim Colet, who last season were proclaimed winners of the Euro Cup (second European competition), also have internationals such as Edu Lorrio, Bernat Sanahuja and Sergi Cabanes. At the end of the second quarter the score was already 7-5 and, in the third and thanks to an extraordinary defense, CN Sabadell took the lead with 8-9.
Atlètic-Barceloneta has been the bulk of the Spanish National Team for years. players like Alberto Munarriz, Felipe Perrone, Unai Aguirre, Roger Tahull, Marc Larumbe, Miguel de Toro and Álex Bustos form part of one of the best squads in Europe. In the last set, the rennet of a mature Sabadell annulled Barceloneta, who were unable to score a goal and finally lost 8-11. The Vallesans are now the leader of the Division of Honor with four wins in a row.
The streak of 119 games is not the longest in the history of Barceloneta. In 2009, at the hands of the now sports director Santi Fernández, the sailor club went 132 games in a row without being defeated. The absolute record, at a time when water polo was residual, CN Barcelona has it, the dean of aquatic clubs in Spain, which went 57 years without losing a match. On November 20, 1969, Atlètic-Barceloneta beat him in the Catalan Championship and a year later snatched the League title from him.