Buzau and Nilüfer overcome deficits to join EHF European Cup quarter-finals

Nilüfer BSK and SKKP Handball Brno met on Sunday afternoon in Türkiye after the Czech team won the first leg 29:26 last week. Throughout the first 30 minutes, both sides traded leads and subsequently went into the locker rooms level at 16:16. A 5:0 run by the hosts sparked hope for the home fans, turning the aggregate score in their team’s favour. Nilüfer were able to hold on to this lead and even extended it in the last 10 minutes (32:28). In the end, Nilüfer BSK beat their Czech opponents by 58:57 on aggregate to advance to the quarter-finals.

• RK Celje Pivovarna Laško cruised into the quarter-finals, beating Besiktas JK 36:34 in Türkiye; the Slovenian side had a five-goal advantage going into the second leg; Celje never trailed by more than one goal on Saturday, partly thanks to Gal Gaberšek’s 18 saves
• MOL Tatabanya KC travelled to Norway to face Runar Sandefjord with a two-goal advantage; in an all-round team performance, Tatabanya were victorious in the second leg, winning 36:31, relying on 11 different scorers; the match was neck-and-neck for 42 minutes, until a 10:3 run by the Hungarian side decided the fight for the quarter-finals ticket; Runar’s Daniel Blomgren was the top scorer of the match with 11 goals and six assists
• ACS HC Buzau 2012 erased their two-goal deficit from the first leg in just six minutes, and only added goal after goal after that; at half-time, the Romanian side was leading by 10 goals for the first time (18:8) and raised the goal difference to 14 in the second half, taking a dominant 37:23 win and advancing to the quarter-finals; Alexandru Tarita scored 10 goals for Buzau
• GRK Ohrid from North Macedonia have also qualified for the next round, beating HC Dukla Praha 30:24 in the second leg (60:45 on aggregate); Kristian Pilipovic had another brilliant performance with 12 saves at 38.7 per cent efficiency, while Tilen Strmljan had eight goal contributions — three goals and five assists — to lead his team in a very solid second-leg performance
• Olympiacos SFP comfortably beat BK-46 by six goals (31:25) in the second leg and 70:55 on aggregate; the Greek side was once again much more efficient than their Finnish opponents with a 58.47 per cent shot efficiency; Olympiacos' goalkeeper Panagiotis Papantonopoulos collected 13 saves on Saturday
• HC Izvidac advanced to the quarter-finals for the second season in a row, beating RK Trimo Trebnje 65:61 on aggregate; Trebnje tried everything to erase their three-goal deficit from the first leg, but were only able to cut the gap to one goal after 13 minutes; Izvidac had an impressive shooting efficiency at 77 per cent, which was the key to celebrating a 34:33 away win in the second leg

Karvina keep their cool in Hungary to secure progression

Balatonfüredi KSE met HCB Karvina in Hungary on Sunday afternoon in one of the most anticipated second legs of the weekend. After losing by two goals in Czechia last week (28:30), it was all to play for, and the hosts were able to turn the deficit into a two-goal advantage after 26 minutes (14:10). Right back Tim Rozman was involved in seven of his team’s 14 goals in the first 30 minutes — namely with three goals and four assists.

However, only four minutes later, the turnaround was erased by the guests, who scored three unanswered goals and levelled the match shortly after half-time (14:14). The clash remained neck-and-neck throughout the second half, with Karvina taking control in the last 15 minutes, always leading by one or two goals. Balatonfüredi were able to level the match three times in crunch time, but never took the lead again. Karvina celebrated a 28:27 win in Hungary and a ticket to the quarter-finals with an overall three-goal advantage (58:55).

Photos © Dan Moldoveanu (main), Szente Benjámin (feature in-text)