Magdeburg keep clean sheet; big wins for Plock, Aalborg, Nantes

• Magdeburg secured their fourth victory in as many games, though they led GOG only by two goals at the break
• SCM’s Ómar Ingi Magnusson scored 11 goals in the win over GOG
• Plock secured their second home win of the season, against Pelister (36:25), as Melvyn Richardson was crucial with eight goals
• on the back of a stunning first half, which saw them lead by 12, Nantes won against Sporting (39:28) for the third time in six months' time
• two players particularly shone in that game: Nantes’ Ayoub Abdi and Sporting’s Martim Costa, who scored 11 and 10 times, respectively
• in the Scandinavian clash of the evening, Aalborg remained cold-blooded to take the points in Kolstad, 35:26

GROUP A

Kolstad Håndball (NOR) vs Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) 26:35 (12:17)

H2H : 1-0-4
Top scorers: Adrian Aalberg 5/8 and Simen Lyse 5/8 (Kolstad Håndball); Thomas Arnoldsen 8/11 (Aalborg Håndbold)

Kolstad’s offence took a while to warm up, and with Thomas Arnoldsen scoring five, the visitors took the lead early in the game, not letting much chance to their opponent. Aalborg's advantage culminated to five goals at the 15th minute, before the hosts reacted, with Nicolai Neupart making some strong saves. Not enough, though, to prevent their opponents from leading at the break.

Things only got better for the visiting team in the second half. As Niklas Landin pulled off save after save, Aalborg increased their lead — even to nine goals in the 47th minute, when Marinus Munk scored his first goal of the evening. His teammate Thomas Arnoldsen led with eight goals. Combining offensive and defensive efficiency, Aalborg sealed the deal in the last 10 minutes, when local hero Sander Sagosen made his comeback on the court after an injury layoff, scoring three times along the way.

Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) vs HBC Nantes (FRA) 28:39 (11:23)

H2H : 0-0-3
Top scorers: Martim Costa 10/12 (Sporting Clube de Portugal); Ayoub Abdi 11/14 (HBC Nantes)

Seven minutes into Wednesday’s game and one could tell that this was going to be a tough night for the many Sporting fans. Their team was already down by five, their players unable to get past Nantes’ goalkeeper Ignacio Biosca while Aymeric Minne was driving the French side with brilliance. And things did not get better before the break, as the visitors made the most of every mistake from their opponents. With Theo Avelange-Demouge and Nicolas Tournat scoring five and four goals in the first half alone, Nantes were ahead by 11 at minute 24, and even by 12 at the break.

Sporting tried everything to come back after the break, from toughening their defence to making it more aggressive, even going up to half-court to try and recover some balls. But thanks to their clear lead, Nantes had gathered a lot of confidence and remained firmly on top. Even when Sporting came back within 10, thanks to Martim Costa’s impressive performance, Nantes did not let anything go and went 13 goals up 10 minutes later.

GROUP B

Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) vs HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) 36:25 (18:14)

H2H : 2-0-1
Top scorers : Melvyn Richardson 8/9 (Orlen Wisla Plock); Dejan Manaskov 7/9 (HC Eurofarm Pelister)

The clash promised to be an interesting one between two of the best defences in the competition, but the first 15 minutes turned out to be an actual goal fest. Plock’s Melvyn Richardson and Pelister’s Dejan Manaskov scored four each to feed the scoreboard, but none of the teams really took the upper hand. At least, not until Xavi Sabate started making some substitutions for the hosts. Sergey Kosorotov and Miha Zarabec started finding solutions their teammates did not manage to earlier, while Mirko Allilovic made some important saves, and Plock took a four-goal advantage, which they managed to keep at the break, after Abel Serdio scored a buzzer-beater.

The second half showed a real difference in the game’s dynamics. Plock resumed with their defensive antics and used them to push the ball whenever possible. After Pelister lost Nik Henigman to a red card, the hosts scored four unanswered goals to take a seven-goal advantage. Pelister were not able to recover from such a bad sequence. Despite Manaskov scoring seven goals in total, Plock proved to have a much stronger collective form, with seven players netting three times or more.

GOG (DEN) vs SC Magdeburg (GER) 30:39 (16:18)

H2H : 1-0-2
Top scorers: Frederik Bjerre 9/9 (GOG); Ómar Ingi Magnusson 11/12 (SC Magdeburg)

GOG owed it to one man not to be out of the game after seven minutes, and that was their goalkeeper, Peter Johannesson. While his teammates struggled to find the solution in the first moments, the Swedish goalkeeper made four crucial shots to help his team remain in the run. And the hosts were more than just in the run at the half-time break. With Frederik Bjerre and Nicolai Nygaard Pedersen firing on all cylinders, the Danish side took the lead for the first time in minute 24. But two late saves from Matej Mandic and a Magnus Saugstrup buzzer-beater still allowed SCM to lead by two at the break.

The visitors came back from the dressing room with their foot on the pedal. Capitalising on the last minute of the first half, they immediately took a four-goal advantage, the biggest of the evening. As Elvar Örn Jonsson and Ómar Ingi Magnusson added some more goals, their team’s lead increased to a maximum of 10 goals at various times throughout the second half. While Magnusson reached his season best, with 11 goals, SCM cruised to their fourth victory of the season, keeping the lead in group B.

main image © Lau Nielsen