Today, the Barcelona Dragons (8-2) will travel to Vienna, Austria to take on the Vikings (9-1) in a penultimate week showdown in the European League of Football (ELF).
The first encounter between the pair offered viewers one of the most exciting games of the year with Vienna rallying for a 27-20 win after trailing 20-8 in the fourth quarter.
Despite Vienna’s excellent form all year, they were anything but dominant in the first three quarters of the Barcelona game. Vienna’s 19 unanswered points in the final quarter were more to do with a defensive meltdown from the Dragons than anything else.
Barcelona suffered another devastating defeat shortly after at the hands of the then winless Istanbul Rams. Since then, however, the team has gotten back on track and shown why they were once considered the best team in the league.
A hallmark of their success has undoubtedly been the connection between quarterback Zach Edwards and wideout Kyle Sweet. The pair have been tearing the league up and enter week 13 both as league leaders in their respective positions.
Vienna has hit only one bump in the road since that win which came two weeks ago when they were decimated by the Frankfurt Galaxy. Outside of this loss, however, the Vikings have been nearly pitch perfect due to their elite receiving corps and stingy defense.
Despite the context of this rematch being significantly different with both teams already securing playoff berths, it will still have both times amped up as they will be eager to position themselves as number one in the league.