Home right was no advantage

Atletico Madrid, MKB Veszprem and Cimos Koper opened Round 5 of the VELUX EHFChampions League with away victories on Wednesday evening. Madrid secured the lead in group B ahead of Veszprem, whilst Koper made a huge step towards the Last 16 in Group C.

Group B:

Füchse Berlin (GER) vs. MKB Veszprem (HUN) 24:29 (13:15)

By losing their second consecutive home match the Foxes are back on the floor after their great starting period. After the defeat against Madrid three weeks ago, now Veszprem was to strong for the Germans. As Torsten Lanes scored five times for Berlin, Mirsad Terzic was top scorer of the game with seven goals for the Hungarian champions.

The game was even until the 12:11, by scoring five straight goals Veszprem then took control of the match and did not give the lead from their hands until the end. But as Füchse fought hard and reduced to 21:22 and 23:25 Veszprem had to give all they can – but decided the match at the score of 28:23.

With eight points second ranked team from Veszprem now is ahead three points of the Foxes, which cannot be overtaken by any opponent this weekend.

Statements after the match:

Dagur Sigurdsson (coach Füchse Berlin): We started weak, as our heads and hearts did not have been fully focussed on the game. Little things decided the match later on – as we missed too many chances. So we are not satisfied with our today’s performance.
Lajos Mocsai (coach MKB Veszprém): We have prepared on this game for five days – and it was worth this. Our defence and goalkeepers stood well and we are happy about our good base in this group.

KS Vive Targi Kielce (POL) vs. BM Atletico Madrid (ESP) 29:37 (14:19)

Atletico Madrid remain unbeaten in the VELUX EHF Champions League and also remain on top of group B with nine points after the clear victory in Poland.

In total 16 saves of goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik paved the way to this result. After the 5:4 Madrid was the clearly better team with an outstanding defence and more efficiency in attack.

They increased the margin to 19:14 at the break and latest at the 27:20 they were known as the winners. Aside Sterbik, Markussen and Lazarow were the keys to success with each eight goals. But they were not top scorers of this game, as Jurecki hit the back of the net eleven times.

With four points Kielce remain on fourth position, still two points ahead of Chekhovskie Medvedi.

Group C:

HC St. Petersburg (RUS) vs. RK Cimos Koper (SLO) 26:35 (16:18)

By outclassing the Russian runners-up, Cimos Koper remain second only two points below Hamburg currently. St. Petersburg missed the chance to get closer to the fourth position.

Jure Vran was the key to this Koper victory with twelve goals for the Slovenian champions, which dominated the game from the beginning, also thanks to the in total nine goals of Sebastian Skube.

The resistance of the host was broken after the 16:13 for Koper, early – in minute 41 at the score of 24:19 – the winner was obvious. When Cimos Koper changed the goalkeeper to Podpecan, who saved 69 of all shots until the final buzzer, the disaster for St. Petersburg had begun. Nasyrov was the best scorer for the host with six goals.

Statements after the match:

Fredi Radojković (coach Cimos Koper): The game was much more difficult for the host, as they were under the pressure to win. We played our own style and took a well-deserved victory.

Dimitry Torgowanow (coach HC St. Petersburg): Our key players were too tired in the decisive moments, and Koper took over our strategy. Aside their goalskeepers had a much better day than ours.