Aalborg take MOTW; Magdeburg beat PSG to start title defence

• Aalborg came out victorious of the first Match of the Week of the season, taking tonight’s clash against Veszprém (32:28)
• Aalborg’s Fabian Norsten was elected Player of the Match, thanks to his 18 saves
• Sporting secured their first two points of the season on the back of a strong second half on Dinamo Bucuresti’s court (33:30)
• Magdeburg took the perfect start of the season by defeating Paris on home court (37:31)
• Paris’ Kamil Syprzak was the best scorer of this Wednesday evening, with 11 goals
• Pelister won the Balkan derby against Zagreb for the first time in history to start their season with a win (25:23)

GROUP A

MOTW: Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs One Veszprém HC (HUN) 32:28 (17:15)
H2H : 7-0-6
Top scorers: Thomas Arnoldsen 6/7 (Aalborg Håndbold), Nedim Remili 8/15 (One Veszprém HC)
POTM: Fabian Norsten (Aalborg Håndbold)

There were a lot of expectations ahead of this first Match of the Week of the season, and the clash between Aalborg and Veszprém kept all its promises. Thanks to an impressive start by Fabian Norsten between the posts, the hosts built an increasing advantage and led by four goals after 19 minutes. But Nedim Remili’s arrival on the court put Veszprém back on track and six minutes later, both teams were level again. But the momentum quickly fell back on Aalborg’s side, their offence managing to score easy goals. The hosts were able to retain this advantage mainly thanks to goalkeeper Fabian Norsten. The Swede pulled off 18 saves at an impressive 41 per cent efficiency, supporting his side whenever the offence was struggling. Despite Nedim Remili’s eight goals, Veszprém could not get level with Aalborg again. And when Norsten made two more stops with less than two minutes to go, underlining he deserved the Player of the Match award, it was clear the two points were staying in Denmark.

Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) 30:33 (15:15)
H2H : 4-0-5
Top scorers: Haniel Langaro 5/6, Andrii Akimenko 5/10 (Dinamo Bucuresti), Francisco Costa (Sporting Clube de Portugal) 8/16

For their first game of the season, Dinamo Bucuresti made an impression — but only for 15 minutes. Using their solid defence as a foundation, the Romanian side put pressure on their opponents right from the throw-off, as their opponents only scored three times in the first 13 minutes. By that time, the hosts were ahead by three. But with their main defender Robert Militaru sent off, they were not able to keep the pace up. Francisco Costa made the score even at minute 15, and no team was able to take the upper hand until the break. Afterwards, the Portuguese side took the lead and never let it go. Between the posts, Mohammed Ali made wonders for his team, and in his wake, Sporting broke away, taking a maximum advantage of four goals several times throughout the second half. But not only were Sporting consistent in defence, they also delivered on the other side out of the court. With the Costa brothers on fine form, scoring eight and seven goals respectively, the Lisbon team just proved to be the best on the court this night.

GROUP B

SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 37:31 (21:17)
H2H : 5-0-1
Top scorers: Felix Claar 10/11 (SC Magdeburg), Kamil Syprzak 11/16 (Paris Saint-Germain)

There are moments where everything clicks on the court, and offensively, the first half of Wednesday’s game was probably one of those. The Machineseeker EHF Champions League titleholders netted 21 times in the first half alone and some of the actions they provided were pure genius. While the hosts used much of their collective power to take the lead and not let it go, Paris relied on individual performances to remain in the game, with Kamil Syprzak and Elohim Prandi creating chances for themselves and keeping the French side only down by four at the break. Never was team led by new coach Stefan Madsen able to turn things around after the break. Conceding too many goals without goalkeepers, Paris saw their opponents increase their advantage little by little. With Sergey Hernandez on a good night between the posts (two goals and 11 saves), SCM took a maximum advantage of seven goals with nine minutes left to play. Even though Paris’ Syprzak reached the end of the game with 11 goals, Magdeburg proved to be a much more complete team tonight, with their six-goal win a logical consequence.

HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) vs HC Zagreb (CRO) 25:23 (13:12)
H2H : 1-0-4
Top scorers: Dejan Manaskov 8/11 (HC Eurofarm Pelister), Filip Glavaš (HC Zagreb) 7/8

Only one team managed to lead on the scoreboard in the first half of this game: Pelister. The hosts took the lead on the first action of the game, with summer recruit Nik Henigman scoring his first goal, and never let it go. Despite the game being a very defensive one, the side from Bitola still found ways to get past Zagreb’s goalkeepers. They did it 13 times before the break, with Dejan Manaskov scoring four goals alone, to go back to the dressing room leading by one, their smallest advantage of the half. The second half was as tight as the first one, with the two teams never being separated by more than three goals. Even though Zagreb took the lead for the first time of the evening at the 33rd minute, Pelister kept their calm to take the momentum up again. With Dejan Manaskov scoring eight, the hosts took the lead again, and this time held on to it. Zagreb tried their best though, and the Croatian side were even close to the equaliser with 20 seconds left to play. But Saeid Heidaridad stopped their last attempt before scoring in the empty goal, securing the first ever win for his team in this Balkan derby.

main image © Henrik Hansen /Aalborg Håndbold