Barcelona and Kielce group winners, Bjerringbro reach Last 16

The 13^th participant of the Last 16 of the VELUX EHF Champions league is confirmed: Bjerringbro Silkeborg. Though the Danish club did not play, they clinched the berth for the first time ever, as Chambéry and St. Petersburg lost their matches on Saturday.

Barcelona and Kielce secured the victory in their respective groups already one round before the end. Celje and Szeged made a huge step towards the Last 16.

In Group A HSV Hamburg caught-up to SG Flensburg-Handewitt after a victory by 21 goals at Niš against Belgrade.

Group A:

RK Partizan Belgrade (SRB) vs. HSV Hamburg (GER) 21:42 (10:24)

HSV Hamburg are well-prepared for their final Group Match against Montpellier next week. Thanks to more than clear victory at Nis they are equal in points with their German country-fellows SG Flensburg-Handewitt on the top position now. If Chekhovskie Medvedi win at Montpellier on Sunday, three teams are on 14 points before the last Round, when Flensburg play at Chekhov.

HSV left the Serbs chanceless from the first minute on. Thanks to their extra-ordinary goalkeeper Johannes Bitter, who is in the form of his life after his comeback, they had a brilliant start, leaving the host behind 7:0. It took Partizan eight minutes to score their first goals. And Hamburg did not stop, but played like a Swiss clockwork: brilliant in defence and highly efficient in attack they overran Partizan.

At the break the margin had increased to 14 goals – more than a decision. The Germans punished every Partizan turnover by counter-attack goals, and Hans Lindberg added ten more goals to his tally, including the 40^th HSV strike. In the end the Germans had taught a tough lesson for the Serbs, who are now out of the race for the Last 16.

“When the HSV train is rolling, you cannot stop it. Despite the clear defeat I am proud of my team,” Partizan coach Alexsandar Brković said. For HSV coach Martin Schwalb it was “important to go full speed. We took our chances – and took full control thanks to our counter attacks goals and the saves of Johannes Bitter.”

Group B:

RK Pivovarna Laško Celje (SLO) vs. HCM Constanta (ROU) 24:19 (11:6)

Before their final encounter at IK Sävehof the Slovenians have built the base for a great group final. Thanks to this victory they have managed to overtake Constanta by two points now – and the Romanians have their last match against THW Kiel.

Attended by 4000 frenetic fans, Celje had a brilliant start, leading by 9:3 after 23 minutes and kept a five goal lead at the break.

In minute 41, when the score was 17:9, everything seemed to be clear, but while Celje missed too many chances, Constanta improved and reduced to 19:15. But then finally the in total 14 saves of goalkeeper Skok and the six goals of top scorer Borut Mačkovšek decided the match.

Constanta coach Zvonko Šundovski was disappointed with the result and especially the start: “We opened the match in a very bad way, totally different than we have planned before. On the other hand Celje played really good and they had excellent goalkeeper. They have managed to gain a clear goal difference which they were able to defend in front of this loud home crowd. I am disappointed since I expected to play better and to show more resistance. Now we have to prepare to try to beat Kiel in the last round and fight for the Last 16 spot.”

For Vladan Matič, coach of RK Celje Pivovarna Laško, the victory was well-deserved: “Both teams showed great defence play and there were no easy goals which I hoped before the match. We are having some troubles in attack but our defense with excellent goalkeeper Skok behind was the key for the victory.  In the second half Constanta tried to get back, but we have played mature and were able to bring the match to the end with comfortable goal difference.”

Group C:

St. Petersburg HC (RUS) vs. HC Metalurg (MKD) 14:32 (10:18)

The Skopje hurricane has smashed all small hopes of St. Petersburg – as the Russians now definitely are out of the race for the last 16 by only two points after nine matches. And the final result was even clearer as in the first match, when Metalurg had won by 32:19.

The second half was an outstanding show of the Macedonians, while St. Petersburg resigned completely, scoring only four goals in 30 minutes.

But the match had been decided already at the break with an eight goal margin. Now Metalurg with their top scorers Naumče Mojsovski and Renato Vugrinec (seven goals each) still can hope to finish second in this group, depending on tomorrows result of current runners-up Velenje at Silkeborg.Velenje play their final match at Kielce, while Metalurg (currently equal in points with the Slovenians) host the Danes.

KS Vive Targi Kielce (POL) vs. Chambéry Savoie (FRA) 36:32 (18:17)

For the first time in their club history Vive Targi Kielce are group winners in the VELUX EHF Champions League – and their victory made the Danes in Bjerringbro jump for joy, as BSV – also for the first time in history – qualified for the Last 16, as Chambéry and St. Petersburg are now out of the race.

After their first victory against Bjerringbro last weekend Chambéry showed another clearly improved performance before the break. The French team were ahead 15:10, before the Poles started their strong catch-up chase – and then cheated the gallows after the break, while Chambéry resigned.

Kielce are the first team to have nine victories in nine matches on their account. Michal Jurecki and Mateusz Jachlewski were the Kielce top scorers by eight goals each, Cedric Paty scored nine times for Chambery.

“It was our last chance and we missed it,” Mario Cavalli, coach of Chambery Savoie, said: “We were well prepared. However, we were unable to achieve a good result. We started well but then simple errors occurred. Kielce took use of our mistakes and they achieved their desired result."

Bogdan Wenta, coach of Vive Targi Kielce, was not only proud of his team, but also the fans: I thank the audience for their support, today once again demonstrated how much they mean. For the first few minutes we gave a lot of gifts Chambery. We had a lot of ball losses and the gate fell from the counter. But when we change our goalkeeper from Szmal to Losert everything worked well. I hope our injured players return quickly, because you can see that we need them.”

Group D:

Pick Szeged (HUN) vs. Dinamo Minsk (BLR) 26:21 (12:5)

Pick Szeged made a huge step towards the Last 16 being ahead of Schaffhausen – their now only remaining opponent – by two points before the final round. And aside, this win – and the parallel victory of Barcelona – confirmed the first three positions in this Group already.

Barcelona are group winner, Füchse Berlin – host of Szeged in the final match - secured the second position, while Minsk will definitely finish third in Group D.

The final decision will be taken between Kadetten and Szeged – if the Hungarian take at least one point at Berlin, they are qualified for the Last 16, if they finish equal in points with Kadetten, the Swiss champions are through as they won the direct encounter with better goal difference.

The Hungarians clearly improved after their defeat at Schaffhausen and decided the duel already at the break thanks to a brilliant defence and a seven goal lead. Minsk had to replace some injured players, but were absolutely chanceless, though they could reduce the margin after the break.

Szeged coach László Skaliczki was highly satisfied. “My players performed well in critical and crucial moments. I also congratulate to Minsk because they performed very well in the group and I wish them good luck to the next matches,” he said.

On the other hand Minsk coach Sergei Bebeshko praised the opponent’s defence. “They were really good and unexpectedly and we were not prepared for this. In the second half we made a change in our defence and the gap decreased thanks to this, but I think that the match was decided already in the first half by Pick.”

Top scorers were Gábor Ancsin (Szeged) with seven goals and Vaško Ševaljević (Minsk) with six goals. And Ancsin was very happy. “We showed that we can perform very well, and this team can capable to fight and win. That is why I am particularly happy and this victory can gives us power to the next challenges in the VELUX EHF Champions League and in the Hungarian League,” he said.

FC Barcelona Intersport (ESP) vs. Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb (CRO) 35:25 (19:10)

Barcelona have recovered from their first defeat in this season at Berlin – and easily beat the Croatian champions in a match as one-sided as the first leg (32:21). As Barcelona secured the first rank by their eighth victory, Zagreb are out of the race for the last 16, remaining by only three points.

The Catalans showed a well-balanced team performance, with every field player scoring except defender Magnus Jernemyr. Match winners were goalkeeper Arpad Sterbik, who again saved outstanding, and Víctor Tomás, becoming top scorer by six goals.

The 2:3 was the last lead of Zagreb, then the Barcas express started and overran the Croats in an unstoppable way. Already at the break the margin were nine goals after Barca increased the gap minute by minute from 11:7 to 15:8 to the halftime score of 19:10.

Zagreb resigned after the break, while Barca forged ahead to an intermediate 14 goal gap at 30:16. Valčić and Stepančić were Zagreb’s top scorers by five goals each.