Veszprém and Magdeburg claim first points at home, Barça start title defence with a win
The 2026/27 season of the EHF Champions League officially got underway on Wednesday night, as seven games were played on the opening evening of the group phase.
Defending champions Barça took a while to warm up before cruising past SAH - Aarhus (39:28), while last season's EHF FINAL4 participants had mixed fortunes. SC Magdeburg took the points against Kolstad (37:22), while Aalborg saw victory slip away as Paris salvaged a 33:33 draw at the buzzer. The other French side in action, Nantes, had to wait until the very last second to edge Plock 26:25.
Paris were the only away team to take a point, as Celje, Porto and Plock all returned home empty-handed. While Kriens-Luzern came close in Kielce, they lacked the experience needed to create the first upset of the season.
Overall, I really enjoyed the whole game and the atmosphere. Thank God, I’m getting a lot of playing time, and I’m trying to make the most of this trust. I think I managed to do that today. Obviously, my goal is to get as much playing time as possible in these high-profile, important games. I want to keep improving step by step and continue developing as a player.
I don’t think we played bad, the first half was good, we were just one goal behind, our objective is to keep up with the best teams in the world, so we’re going to make everything we can go to play the best handball we can.
We stayed very focused throughout the game and showed a lot of character. It was a really strong team performance. Everything wasn’t perfect, but we’ll take the points and the win. We showed a great mentality. It’s a new format, and every point matters.
We are in very tough group and it was important to us to take a good start. We had a strong start but Nantes is a team that can adapt quickly, the match was very close all along and against the best team it’s always in the details, like tonight. We have to focus on the positive, we made a strong game, it’s always difficult to play in this arena.
Great fight in a fantastic atmosphere. I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the two points when we had the opportunity to do so. But also, respect to Paris. When they got their chance, they took it. So yeah, disappointed, but every point is important. One point today, and now it’s back to work.
It was a great game today. We played very well in the first half, controlled things but in the second half their defence stepped up and we struggled more in attack. Overall it’s a good point away from home, it’s always tricky to come here and play against a top team.
The first match is always difficult and this was a very important victory for us in the end. We have a good defence, which is something we can and must continue to build on. Most importantly, though, as said this is a very important win for us at the start of the new Champions League season.
We all know what these matches between Celje and Zagreb are like. They’re good for handball. Both teams showed that we deserve to be in the Champions League, and I believe matches like this certainly help raise the profile of the sport and of both clubs. I have to congratulate my teammates, many of whom played in the Champions League for the first time today.
It’s been a dream to make my debut here at the Palau, and in this way. I am very happy and very proud of the team's effort. Thanks to the club for the trust—now we keep going. I’ve spent years training for this opportunity.
It was an incredible game to be part of. Not many of us have played in an arena like this before, and the atmosphere was something very special. There is a lot we can take from the match, although we are disappointed that our level dropped too much in the final 20 minutes.
Their goalkeeper Pilipovic was excellent in the second half. We are happy that we won the game because it could have gone the other way. The most important thing is that we got the first two points. We were not efficient enough, and our opponents even had a chance to level the score. I feel the trust of the coach and the team, so I want to repay that trust with my performances, assists and goals.
Losing is never fun, but we can still be proud of our performance today. In the second half, we were the better team with an outstanding Kristian Pilipovic in goal. Keep your heads up, this is going to be an exciting group, and we’re already looking forward to more games in the EHF Champions League.
I’m completely satisfied today. We played a very disciplined game right up until the 60th minute. It was a team we couldn’t assess that easily before, but as the game went on, we found more and more ways to deal with them. Every of our players can rightly go home happy today.
We are a completely new team this year, and we’ve only been working together for two months. It’s a talented group, but we need time. Today, we’re playing against a world-class team, and that’s too difficult for us at the moment
