Plock take crucial step towards Last 16 

Orlen Wisla Plock are the winners of the last EHF European Cup match in 2021, the postponed game from round 5 against Bidasoa Irun. By beating the Spanish side 33:26, Plock are on ten points from five victories in six matches and is equal with Füchse Berlin. Berlin’s round 6 match at Winterthur has been postponed to 2022. Irun remain on four points and the fourth position. 

GROUP A: 

Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) vs Bidasoa Irun (ESP) 33:26 (19:14)

• After the lucky 29:28 victory at Irun last week - decided by the winners’ strike of Michal Daszek on the final buzzer- this time, Wisla were dominant throughout the whole match. 
• The 12:12 in the 22nd minute was the last level scoreline, then Wisla scored a 7:2 run up until the break. 
• In the 42nd minute, when David Fernandez Alonso netted, he gave the hosts the only nine-goal gap at 27:19, the match was decided. 
• After his seven goals at the victory at Winterthur, Jon Azkue Saizar again was Irun’s top scorer, this time by his season-high score of nine goals - and is the overall top scorer of Bidasoa now with 33 strikes. 
• Plock’s best overall scorer is Russian new arrival Mark Sergej Kosorotov with 40 goals, including two against Irun. The best shooter on Thursday was Croat Tin Lucin with seven strikes. 

The victorious end of a thrilling year for Wisla 

Beating Irun for the second time was a significant step towards the Last 16 - and it was the twelfth European League victory for the Polish national league runners-up in 2021. Wisla won four of six group matches of the 2020/21 season this year, then each of the Last 16 and quarter-final duels, and made it to the EHF finals as the first-ever Polish team in the tournament. But in Mannheim, they were defeated twice, first by eventual winners Magdeburg in the semi, then by host Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the bronze medal match. After a defeat and victory in the qualification against Constanta, Plock have taken five wins in six group matches of the 2021/22 season.