Rostov cruise past Bietigheim to remain top of group A
After losing their first game this season last weekend in Metz (26:27), Rostov-Don were back on track today, hosting German side SG Bietigheim.
The first leg between the two teams saw Rostov snatch a one-goal victory in Germany, but today’s match was a clash between two sides at either ends of the spectrum with Rostov leading the group before round 11 while Bietigheim were last.
GROUP A
Rostov-Don (RUS) vs SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) 27:21 (15:9)
- Rostov’s defence helped Rostov break away on the scoreboard, as the hosts only conceded three goals in the first 15 minutes of the game. The Russian side were comfortably ahead at half-time, leading 15:9
- despite resting key players such as Grace Zaadi in the second half, Rostov remained in control of the game, taking a maximum advantage of eight before finally winning by six
- 10 players scored at least once for Rostov; Yaroslava Frolova and Polina Kuznetsova netted five times each
- Rostov stay at the head of group A after their win, while Bietigheim are still bottom with three points
Rostov’s defence
Viktoriia Kalinina’s five saves in the first half do not tell how dominant Rostov were defensively.
Bietigheim’s backcourt struggled to find any solutions in the first 30 minutes, with only Xenia Smits reaching the net from long distance.
The Russian side pulled out its best defensive performance this season in the DELO EHF Champions League, with only 21 goals conceded.
We had a hard week and we decided that we must act as a team. And we did. We did a lot of good things in attack and defence. But we made some mistakes and our opponents were punishing us
The result is not very good for us, a big difference in the score. But we had to change some things in our game. Some of our players were in national teams. And also, we had not a full squad in Rostov. And we slept only five hours. We did not stop our opponents' fast breaks and were losing the ball.
