Magdeburg, Aalborg and Paris in main round; four clubs out

In group A, Veszprém could book their main round ticket as soon as Thursday, after they won their fourth straight game on Wednesday.

Three clubs can still hope to qualify from group B: Nantes, Plock and Melsungen. Nantes and Plock took the two points in round 4, while Vardar are now out of the race.

The main round tickets from group C have been decided, as Aalborg and Paris are certain of progressing, while Celje and Zagreb have no chance to make it through.

Group F remains undecided, as Magdeburg secured their main round presence by beating Kielce, but which team will join them is still a question. Kriens-Luzern’s hopes are still alive after they beat — and eliminated — Kolstad.

• Veszprém remain on top of group A, thanks to their fourth win in as many games, this time at home against Partizan, 38:28

• Vardar are eliminated after losing in Plock, 33:32, while Nantes took revenge on Melsungen, securing a 33:25 win, following their defeat last week

• the group C games delivered the same result as in round 3, as Aalborg and Paris took the points against Zagreb and in Celje, securing their main round places

• Magdeburg kept their record clean with a fourth win, beating Kielce 30:27, and also confirming progression to the main round

• Kolstad are now out of the main round race, after their tough home defeat against Kriens-Luzern, 36:28, while the Swiss team keep their hopes alive

GROUP A

One Veszprém HC (HUN) vs RK Partizan AdmiralBet (SRB) 38:28 (18:15)

H2H: 3-0-1
Top scorers: Dragan Pechmalbec 8/9 (One Veszprém HC); Tobias Wagner 9/9 (RK Partizan AdmiralBet)

After winning by 11 in Belgrade last week, Veszprém enjoyed an equally successful night on Wednesday against Partizan. The Hungarian side broke away early and were already ahead by four after six minutes. But Partizan displayed fierce resistance. Sure, Veszprém scored 18 times in the first half, with five for Nédim Rémili, but with Tobias Wagner netting seven times, the visitors gave their hosts a nice run for their money. As if they wanted to put themselves out of trouble early, coming back to the court, Veszprém put their foot to the floor. Scoring a 7:3 partial within eight minutes, the hosts increased their advantage to seven, never to be caught again. As Dragan Pechmalbec scored nine, his best ever mark in the competition, the Hungarian side secured two more points, moving closer to the main round.

GROUP B

HBC Nantes (FRA) vs MT Melsungen (GER) 33:25 (17:10)

H2H: 1-0-1
Top scorers: Thibaud Briet 7/13 (HBC Nantes); Aaron Mensing 7/14 (MT Melsungen)

While the last minutes of the first confrontation between the teams, in the previous round, saw Nantes crumble under pressure, the start of the round 4 clash was completely different. Powered by goalkeeper Christoffer Bonde, who pulled off some impressive saves early on, the hosts pulled away. Taking only one goal between minutes 19 and 25, the French side increased their advantage to seven. The drive was not even altered when Ihor Turchenko was excluded after a tough hit against an opponent. For a short while, it looked like MT were on track for a stunning comeback. Thanks to a couple of saves from Nebojsa Simić, the German side came back within five early in the second half, but soon let the momentum go. “Le H” took the upper hand again and the French side cruised to a third win.

Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) vs HC Vardar 1961 (MKD) 33:32 (16:13)

H2H: 3-2-3
Top scorers: Frederik Bjerre 7/7 (Orlen Wisla Plock); Jaka Malus 9/9 (Vardar)

Plock made it a double against Vardar on Wednesday night, following their win in Skopje in round 3. The game started perfectly for the Polish side, who scored five goals without a response from their opponents between minutes 10 and 15. This early momentum put them out of harm and with a safety net that Plock kept throughout the first half. A last-minute push from Vardar narrowed the gap to three goals at the break, and two shortly after coming back on the court gave the visitors hope. Jaka Malus and Vukašin Vorkapić were elemental for Vardar, but Plock proved more consistent. With Miljan Vujović making important saves for the home team in the last 10 minutes, Wisla remained on top. And when Frederik Bjerre scored his seventh goal with just over one minute left, it was clear Plock were taking the two points.

GROUP C

RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 30:41 (14:22)

H2H: 2-0-12
Top scorers: Aljuš Anžic 9/13 (RK Celje Pivovarna Laško); Kamil Syprzak 9/9 (Paris Saint-Germain)

Wednesday’s game looked pretty much like the first confrontation between the two teams a week ago. While Celje resisted in the first minutes, with Aljuš Anžic making another big impression, Paris quickly stepped things up a notch. As Elohim Prandi and Yahia Omar found solutions from distance, the hosts were forced to take a first timeout when they trailed by four 16 minutes in. Things did not get any better afterwards, as Paris pushed every possible ball to score easy goals, and at the break, the visitors were ahead by eight. The gap between the two sides remained the same for eight minutes before Paris scored four in a row, for the advantage to reach 10 goals for the first time of the evening. The Slovenian side were never able to turn things around, despite their young talent showing promise for the future — not enough, though, to contest this result.

Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs HC Zagreb (CRO) 34:33 (19:15)

H2H: 9-1-2
Top scorers: Thomas Arnoldsen 6/7, Tobias Nielsen 6/9, Juri Knorr 6/12 (Aalborg Håndbold); Ihar Bialiauski 7/8, Filip Glavaš 7/7 (HC Zagreb)

It took about 20 minutes for Aalborg to warm up, before the Danish side took the advantage properly. Before that, thanks to strong defence, Zagreb remained in the game, Aalborg unable to break away. But when Juri Knorr finally managed to score, everything felt a little bit different for the Danish side. As the German centre back netted five times within 15 minutes, many offensive solutions opened for the hosts. Tobias Nielsen was also impactful for the home side, netting five in the first half, and with Zagreb’s Stanislau Sadouski seeing red from the referees, Aalborg had the upper hand at the break. But despite the difference, Zagreb never let anything go. Thanks to Ihar Bialauski and Filip Glavaš, the Croatian side came back within one with three minutes left to play — although they never were able to catch Aalborg completely. Backs Thomas Arnoldsen and Marinus Munk — the latter with the winning goal — displayed all their experience to keep their team on top and secure the two points.

GROUP F

Kolstad Håndball (NOR) vs HC Kriens-Luzern (SUI) 28:36 (13:16)

H2H: 0-0-2
Top scorers: Simon Jeppsson 9/10 (Kolstad Håndball); Jerome Müller 12/13 (HC Kriens-Luzern)

Were Kriens-Luzern to write another chapter of history, after taking their first EHF Champions League ever win last Wednesday? Or were Kolstad going to stop their losing streak — the club’s longest in the competition? Both teams looked really motivated in the first half, trading goals, with neither side taking an advantage bigger than three goals before minute 24. Kriens-Luzern were the first to take such an advantage, on the back of Jerome Müller delivering the goods. The right back scored six of his blinding 12 goals before half-time to contribute to the visitor’s six-goal advantage at that point. After the break, Kriens-Luzern picked up where they had left off, scoring four goals against Kolstead’s one in the opening eight minutes to increase their advantage. As Marin Šipić netted three times in a row, the gap between the two teams was eight goals at minute 44 — then all the Swiss team had to do was cruise until the final whistle. The consolation for Kolstad is that the defeat did not take them out of the main round race.

SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Industria Kielce (POL) 30:27 (13:14)

H2H: 5-0-2
Top scorers: Gísli Kristjánsson 6/8 (SC Magdeburg); Dylan Nahi 7/9 (Industria Kielce)

Magdeburg did not play the Bundesliga last weekend — was that the reason SCM seemed to lack some rhythm at the start of this Wednesday’s confrontation? The German side failed to find clear solutions offensively and when they did, they could not pass Dejan Milosavljev, who saved four shots in the first quarter. As a consequence, Kielce were ahead by three midway through the first half. And the Polish side did not slow down. As the young left back Kiryl Rabchynski scored four in the first half alone, Kielce were ahead until the break, and it was only thanks to a last penalty from Matthias Musche that Magdeburg were down by just one then. The second half’s physiognomy was completely different, with the German side taking things into their own hands and turning things around early. Even though the game remained a very defensive one, Magdeburg were, this time, the team making most of the stops. Matej Mandić was key between the hosts’ posts, making 11 saves to help SCM take a four-goal advantage with the final siren in sight. Although Magdeburg lost a few balls in the last five minutes, they secured the two points — and a main round berth.

Photos © Aalborg Håndbold; HBC Nantes; Lars Skaug; Jerzy Stankowski; One Veszprém HC; RK Celje Pivovarna Laško; Eroll Popova