The hosts provide the first challenge in the assault on the Quijote Arena

Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto travel to Ciudad Real this weekend to contest the promotion phase for the Liga Plenitude Asobal at the Quijote Arena Municipal Pavilion. The red-and-whites will play the first semi-final at 18:00, against the hosts: ID Energy Caserío Ciudad Real.

 

The Portuenses arrive at this event after losing 31–27 away to Balonmano Dólmenes Antequera last Saturday. All available members of the squad played minutes in the match, except Dani Martínez, Antonio Capitán (not selected) and Javier Olivares (injured).

 

“It is an exciting weekend, and we are approaching it with great enthusiasm. It is a reward for the squad; we deserve to experience this event after the good season we have had, as we expected to be further down the table,” comments Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto coach Toni Malla on what the phase means to them.

 

“We have three clear objectives: first, to enjoy it; second, to gain experience for the future; and third and finally, to try to compete as well as possible with the tools at our disposal,” adds the Catalan coach.

 

Opposing them will be ID Energy Caserío Ciudad Real, who, after fighting for almost the entire regular season for direct promotion to the Liga Plenitude Asobal, arrived at the final matchday with no chance of achieving it. Despite this, they took advantage of UBU San Pablo Burgos’ defeat to Horneo EÓN Alicante (32–35), beating Blendio Sinfín 35–30 to finish the competition in second place. This allows them to host the phase in front of their supporters and face the fifth-placed side, Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto.

 

“We have a very difficult opponent ahead of us. We are clear that they are favourites. They finished second in the regular league and missed out on direct promotion by just a few points. On top of that, they are playing in front of their own supporters,” stresses the Tortosa manager.

 

As for the meetings between the Valencian and Ciudad Real sides this season, the two matches were extremely even. In both the first- and second-round fixtures, the home teams took the two points by the narrowest of margins, with results of 27–26 at the Pabellón Port de Sagunt and 35–34 at the Quijote Arena.

 

“I am convinced that the Marea Rojiblanca and our supporters will not leave us alone. We know that a large number of people are travelling, and we will fight until the end for them, while always being aware that it is a complex challenge,” Toni concludes.

 

Should they progress to the final, Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto would face the winner of the second semi-final on Sunday from 12:00, with UBU San Pablo Burgos taking on Blendio Sinfín. In addition, reaching the final would mean that, even in the event of a hypothetical defeat, they would secure the possibility of playing a two-legged play-off against the 14th-placed team in the Liga Plenitude Asobal as a second possible route to promotion.

  We remind you that, via the website balonmanocaserio.compralaentrada.com, general and children’s season tickets (25 and 10 euros respectively) and single-day tickets (15 and 7 euros respectively) can still be purchased.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.