Lasse Andersson leads Berlin to MOTW victory, Plock upsets Paris again

• as Emil Nielsen delivered a blinding performance for his return in his home country, Barça took a commanding win in GOG (41:28)
  
  
• for the first game on the bench of new coach Nenad Sostaric, Zagreb gave Szeged a nice run for their money, but still could not take their first points (26:32)
  
  
• Sporting inflicted Kolstad their seventh defeat in a row (44:31), as Orri Freyr Thorkelsson scored nine
  
  
• at the end of a tense match, Plock took the points in Paris to remain third in group B (30:29)
  
  
• in a thrilling Match of the Week, Berlin managed to remain undefeated by beating Veszprém (38:34)
  
  
• after scoring 10 goals, Berlin’s Lasse Andersson was elected Player of the Match
  
  
• Berlin remain top of group A ahead of Aalborg, while Barça are second in group B, just ahead of Plock

GROUP A

Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) vs Kolstad Handball (NOR) 44:31 (22:15)

H2H: 2-0-0

Top scorers: Orri Freyr Thorkelsson (Sporting) 9 goals, Simon Jeppsson (Kolstad) 7 goals

It did not take long for Sporting to take the momentum in this Thursday night game. With a strong defence, and making the most of their opponents’ turnovers, the hosts put their foot to the pedal right away. And as Orri Freyr Thorkelsson scored his fourth goal, Sporting were already ahead by four after 14 minutes. Kolstad never managed to recover from this bad start, even though Simon Jeppsson scored three goals in the first half alone. Sporting’s advantage kept on increasing and, at the break, the hosts were ahead by seven, three goals less than their maximum advantage of the first half. With such a safety net, Sporting seemed in control for the whole of the second part. Martim Costa picked up scoring duties for the Portuguese side, which never saw its advantage melt down. Instead, it pushed in the last 10 minutes to make the gap reach 13 goals on the siren, the biggest of the evening.

MOTW: Füchse Berlin (GER) vs One Veszprém HC (HUN) 38:34 (19:18)

H2H: 4-0-2

Top scorers: Lasse Andersson (Berlin) 10 goals, Hugo Descat (Veszprém) 8 goals

Veszprém had one tactic at the start of the game, and it was to play as fast as possible. Despite Füchse not being quite the slowest of teams, the hosts were clearly outran by their opponents in the first quarter. French duo Hugo Descat and Nédim Rémili scored three times each and after just 17 minutes, Veszprém were ahead by three. The Hungarian side especially made a good job at neutralising Mathias Gidsel, as the best scorer of the competition so far only scored three goals in the first half. But when he managed to get past Rodrigo Corrales, the left-hander allowed Berlin to take the lead for the first time in the game at the 27th minute. Even though Füchse were able to keep their advantage safe until the break, everything remained open ahead of the second. Teams were leveled throughout the biggest part of the second half, almost all the way until the final ten minutes. That's when Lasse Ludwig made a couple of crucial saves, and his team scored four unanswered goals through Lasse Andersson and Tobias Grondahl. Having taken a four-goals advantage, Füchse never let it go, taking their ninth straight victory of the season.

GROUP B

GOG (DEN) vs Barça (ESP) 28:41 (14:21)

 H2H: 1-1-14

Top scorers: Frederik Bjerre and Hjalte Lykke (GOG) 5 goals, Luis Frade (Barça) 9 goals

Going back to play in your home country is always a special occasion, and this Thursday night was no different for Barça goalkeeper Emil Nielsen. The Dane made sure he would please his fans by making five saves in the first quarter of the game, helping his team take an early five-goal lead after 15 minutes. GOG never recovered from their lackluster start, and with Nielsen delivering yet another blistering performance, Barça increased their lead. As Timothey N’Guessan and Luis Frade both scored four in the first act, the Blaugranas were up by seven at the break. The 15 minutes of rest did not give the opportunity to the hosts to turn things around. As they recovered the balls lost by their opponents, Barça increased their advantage even more, making it to 10 goals just six minutes after coming back to the court. The gap peaked at 14 goals in the 42nd minute, but as the end of the game closed in, GOG finally showed a reaction. With Oli Mittun scoring four, the hosts came back within 11 but failed to really frighten Barça, as the Spanish team cruised away to a comfortable victory.

OTP Bank - PICK Szeged (HUN) vs HC Zagreb (CRO) 32:26 (16:16)

H2H: 14-3-7

Top scorers: Mario Sostaric (Szeged) 9 goals, Ihar Bialauski (Zagreb) 7 goals

When the two teams played against each other a couple of weeks ago, it took Szeged one half to find the solution against Zagreb’s defence. Tonight, the Hungarian side only needed 19 minutes to score 10 goals, the amount they had scored after 30 minutes in Zagreb. But that does not mean their visitors gave up early, though, as Zagreb were level with their opponents throughout the first half, led by Filip Glavas and his five goals. After the right-winger scored a seven-meters throw in the last minute, both teams were level at the break. They remained so until the last 10 minutes, as both teams traded tough defences and splendid goals. After Petar Topic was sent off for Zagreb, his team did not score for eight minutes and their opponents finally managed to break away on the scoreboard. Two straight goals by Marin Melinic and a fastbreak concluded by Mario Sostaric put Szeged four goals ahead with four minutes left to play. That was more than enough for them to secure the victory. As Sostaric sealed the deal a couple of second after, scoring his ninth goal of the day, Father Christmas, who made an appearance in the stands of the PICK Arena, appeared to be particularly delighted.

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) 29:30 (14:18)

H2H: 9-0-3

Top scorers: Elohim Prandi (Paris) 8 goals, Michal Daszek (Plock) 7 goals

Plock’s second half against Paris in the first confrontation between the two sides might have been one of the best for the Polish side so far this season, and Wisla picked up from there from throw-off. Displaying their trademark strong defence, with Mirko Allilovic doing the job between the posts, Plock took the reins on the scoreboard and kept it throughout the first half. Despite Elohim Prandi netting six times in the first half alone, Plock increased their advantage to four goals at the break. It could even had been more, had Melvyn Richardson scored his last-second penalty. Plock, again, had opportunities to turn their advantage into a five-goal one several times at the start of the second half, but did not manage to convert them. Instead, Paris came back within one several times, but could not get in front. Mirko Allilovic pulled off a couple of important saves and Gergo Fazekas scored the game-winner 30 seconds before the final whistle to secure an important away victory for Plock.