ASOBAL League returns to the Ovni

This Sunday from 20:30, with Teledeporte cameras broadcasting live and free-to-air throughout Spain, Alser BM Puerto Sagunto face the formidable BM CAI Aragón in a match corresponding to Matchday 17 of the Liga ASOBAL. A match that once again sees the red-and-whites in front of their supporters, who have not seen their team since December last year as a result of the World Championship break. Following the defeat in Toledo, Alser want to return to the level they showed at the end of the first half of the season, when the red-and-whites picked up six of the last points available, thanks above all to improved defensive intensity brought about by Lapcevic’s contribution and a better interpretation of the collective attacking game. The Aragonese side are certainly not the best opponents against whom to collect points, but Alser must start causing upsets at home, since, apart from Ciudad Real, all the other league powerhouses will visit the Ovni in the second half of the season. To make things even more difficult, CAI will arrive at the Ovni full of confidence after their victory over third-placed Granollers last week, which thrusts them fully into contention for European places. Mariano Ortega brings a team packed with stars, including World Championship semi-finalists such as the Swedes Arrhenius and Larsson, Spanish bronze medallist Jorge Maqueda, and world champion Demetrio Lozano. They are joined by the Aragonese connection with BM Puerto Sagunto, in the shape of Sergio Ruiz Casanova, the best player to come through the Puerto de Sagunto academy in recent years. He returns to the pavilion where he first developed as a handball player, and where he has not played since his final match as a red-and-white in División de Honor B on 20 April 1997, almost fourteen years ago, before his spells with Naranco de Oviedo and the German Bundesliga. In the face of these credentials, Alser have no choice but to appeal to intensity and concentration, and let the magic of the Ovni and its red-and-white tide carry them so that victory remains in Valencian territory. For this challenge, Goran Dockic has recovered all his players who had been struggling with injuries, and it will be on the afternoon of the match that he announces the fourteen-man squad. Before the match, from 18:00, the Alser Handball Academy will be presented with all its teams on the blue carpet used for matches broadcast live by Teledeporte. In addition, and with the aim of bringing together two events of such importance to the city as handball and the Fallas, the Senior Falleras of Sagunto will perform the ceremonial throw-off on the same day that the “Crida” is held. In short, it will be a complete, fun-filled sporting Sunday afternoon, lacking only the icing on the cake that a victory over the all-powerful Aragonese opponents would provide.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.