Barcelona, with its French Dika Mem, Ludovic Fabregas, Melvyn Richardson and Timothey N'Guessan, did not hesitate to defeat the Germans in Kiel, beaten 34-30 after a perfectly controlled match.
Kielce for his part had to reverse a badly started match against the Hungarians of Veszprem, who had raced in the lead in the first period.
In front of the 20,000 excited spectators of the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, which found its audience after two Final Four behind closed doors or almost (1,000 spectators last year), Barcelona battled for 30 minutes against the 2021 German champions, then made the hole early in the second period, taking his advantage to 5 goals five minutes from the buzzer.
Crowned European champion for the 10th time last season after several unsuccessful attempts, Barça is aiming for a historic double in the Champions League.
Since the 2008/09 season and the introduction of the Final 4, no club has managed to retain its title of European champion from one season to another.
Their opponent, Kielce, comes out of a seemingly more difficult semi-final.
After a few minutes at 100 an hour, it was Veszprem who quickly took over, maintaining a slight advantage of one or two goals until the break.
The turning point of the game came in the 33rd minute, when Kielce's German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff stopped a throw from seven meters: from there Kielce took control and made it 11-6 in less than one quarter of an hour, to settle in command, thanks in particular to his right winger Arkadiusz Moryto, top scorer of his team with eight goals.
Uladzislau Kulesh from Kielce takes his ease to score against Veszprem in the C1 Final Four in Cologne, June 18, 2022 Roberto Pfeil AFP
Wolff sickened the opposing attackers while his teammates scored (43% of dead balls in the first half of the second period).
The Poles created a slight gap, which the Hungarians never managed to close.
"We have incredible morale, and we showed a lot of heart and character, said Wolff, "we deserved our place in the final".
© 2022 AFP