Ferlin saves the day for Kielce; Magdeburg add ninth win to streak
The first part of Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 round 9 on Wednesday night saw only one team take the points away from home. SC Magdeburg kept their perfect record by beating HC Eurofarm Pelister in Bitola, while Aalborg Håndbold and Industria Kielce won on their own courts.
It was a crazy game, with a very fast pace from start to finish. I think we played very well in defence and the depth of our squad really was on display tonight. It was unnecessary to make it so close at the end, but I feel we pulled out a deserved victory.
After the first 18–20 minutes, we were in control of things, but afterwards we made too many technical errors, which got punished by a fast-playing Aalborg team. The same pattern was repeated in the second half, and even though we made a collective effort to pull ourselves back in the game, we lost it at the end.
We showed character; it was a good match from us. I’m sorry we didn’t take advantage of the chances at the end of the game, because, in my opinion, we deserved to win. In the first half we played too nervously, but in the second we calmed the game down and played much better. I think we are growing with every match. We’re building ourselves up and playing better and better. Since here in Kielce we were in the game until the final seconds, it means we are a good team.
With us, it can never be calm! Dinamo Bucuresti is a top-class opponent. We played well in attack in the first half, but worse in defence. After the break it was completely the opposite, but we made too many mistakes and missed too many shots. I think we didn’t start the second half well — we made mistakes that gave the opponents easy fast breaks. But when we were two goals down, we showed character and came back into the game. And in the end, we won it.
This was a tough match for us, but I think we can be proud. All the players gave their best on the court. The fans were great once again. But we played against one of the best teams in the world. I want to congratulate the Magdeburg players for the victory. They run a lot, play fast in attack — the whole match one-on-one — and that is the difference from our last rival, PICK Szeged and this Magdeburg. We couldn't stop them completely, but we were always here with a three, four difference. We should be satisfied and look to the future.
It was difficult in this incredible atmosphere. We came on seriously from the first minute and we won important points. We played good defence, we were patient in attack and didn't make too many mistakes. I'm happy for these points. The atmosphere here is great and everyone is cheering from the first to the last minute.
