Barcelona, Metalurg and Kielce keep their clean record

After MKB Veszprém had shown their strength already on Wednesday by taking their second straight victory, Metalurg, Barcelona and Kielce also kept their clean sweep on Saturday. Besides, Madrid and Szeged took their first points in Round 2 of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

Group B:

RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO) vs  Atlético Madrid (ESP) 22:28 (15:13)

Despite 13 saves of brilliant goalkeeper Matevž Skok the young Celje squad were without a chance against the Spanish champions and took their second defeat after losing at Veszprém in Round 1. Runners-up of the previous season from Madrid won their first points in this VELUX EHF Champions League season after losing their home opener to defending champions THW Kiel.

Unfortunately Celje suffered from another player injury last week, so the average age of today’s squad was only 22 years. At the end that was not enough for strong Atlético, but the last season’s VELUX EHF Champions League finalist had to show a lot since they were trailing for two at halftime.

Goalkeeper José Hombrados, who returned after his injury break, was the key factor with eleven saves for the finally clear victory. In the end the goal difference of six did not reflect the margin of both teams. Gašper Marguč scored eight for the home team, the same as Kiril Lazarov for Atletico.

“I am very happy that we won today and it was much harder that the final result shows,” was the opinion of Talant Dujshebaev, coach of Atlético: “Hombrados and our defense made the difference in the second half, as then we scored some easy goals and won this important match.”

Despite the defeat Vladan Matić, coach of RK Celje Pivovarna Laško, was not unsatisfied: “Unfortunately we couldn’t keep the pace for the whole match with only eleven field players. I am proud how my players fought on the court, but at the end this is reality, since Atlético, Veszprém and Kiel are just too strong teams for our young gunners. Maybe we could keep it anyway, but Hombrados and our mistakes made the difference why we could not reach at the end.”

Group C:

HC St. Petersburg (RUS) vs. Vive Targi Kielce 21:31 (10:17)

More than one third of the Kielce goals were scored by superb Croatian wing player Ivan Čupić. After becoming already top scorer in their first encounter against Bjerringbro by nine goals, now Čupić hit the net 12 times at Chekhov, leaving the "home" team from St. Petersburg without a trace of a chance. As the Russian club remain with zero points, Kielce kept their clear sweep by their second victory.

The one-sided match was already decided at the break, as the Russian lacked individual skills, power in defence and ideas in attack compared to their opponent. Only their top scorer Nasyrov (7 goals) was able to stand the pressure, put on St. Petersburg by the Polish champions.

The host were only able to keep up in the first minutes and were in lead for the last time at 4:3. Then the Kielce express had started their engines and overran the Russian runners-up - and Čupić was unstoppable, scoring eleven of his 12 goals already before the break, including six penalty shots.

Though the whole team was rotated  - including the VELUX EHF Champions League debut of Kamil Buchcic in the goal - in the second half, it only took seven minutes before the result was double-figured. This margin lasted until the end.

HC Metalurg (MKD) – RK Gorenje Velenje (SLO) 30:23 (13:6)

Metalurg is breathing down Kielce’s neck with four points after two matches: An incredible defence including a sensational goalkeeper Darko Stanić (overall 16 saves) paved the winner’s way for the Macedonians already at the break, allowing the Slovenian champions only five goals in 28 minutes and six in 30. The defence stood like a wall, and the counter-attacks were like needle-pins, hitting Velenje after their clear victory against St. Petersburg in Round 1, really hard.

Though Velenje improved after the break they were not able to reverse the match, which latest had been decided at 18:10, scored by Metalurg top scorer Dejan Manskov, who in total hit the net seven times like his team-mate Goce Georgievski.

On the other hand Velenje captain Bezjak scored eight times. The closest gap were five goals at 20:25, but the second Skopje victory had never been endangered.

Group D:

FC Barcelona Intersport (ESP) vs. Füchse Berlin (GER) 34:23 (15:10)

Like Veszprém, Metalurg and Kielce, FC Barcelona Intersport still have a clear record after two matches – and after a ten goals margin at Schaffhausen the Catalans even increased the distance against 2012 VELUX EHF FINAL4 participant Berlin. For Füchse, Spanish ground is anything but positive, as they lost their third from three matches in Spain now.

The biggest applause – except for the home players – came on, when former Barca star Iker Romero arrived on the field. But even his four goals could not stop the complete downswing of Füchse.  Top scorer in a brilliant, but easy going match for Barca, was Siarhei Rutenka, scoring eight goals for the clearly better host.

Thanks to four straight goals from 5:4 to 9:4 Barcelona had set their first mark, extending the margin right after the break to nine goals at 23:12 – latest then the winner was confirmed. From 27:16 on, the distance was nearly constantly eleven goals – watched by the highly interested spectator László Nagy, who transferred from Barcelona to Veszprém before this season.

Especially the unbreakable defense of Barcelona was incredible, stopping all Berlin efforts to reduce the gap.

Pick Szeged (HUN) vs. Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) 30:29  (12:14)

A last second goal of Rajko Prodanović made the spectators go crazy in the ehfTV.com Match of the Week. Kadetten were on eye level most of the time and would have deserved a draw, but in the thrilling end game, Szeged secured their first victory in this VELUX EHF Champions League season, as Kadetten still wait for their first point. Top scorers were František Šulc hitting the net 11 times for Szeged and Aleksandar Stojanović (five goals for Kadetten).  Read the whole story in the additional Match of the Week summary on www.ehfCL.com.