Facts and figures of the first leg of the Last 16

The first leg of the Last 16 in the VELUX EHF Champions League was completed on Sunday and delivered some interesting results and statistics.

Before the return matches of the first knock-out stage of this season start on Thursday, here are some of the facts and figures.

The teams that finished the Group Phase ranked third and fourth had their home matches in the first leg. Only two teams, one third ranked and one fourth ranked, were victorious at home in the first leg of the Last 16:
Chekhovskie Medvedi (pot 3) beat THW Kiel (pot 2) by 37:35
Pick Szeged (pot 4) beat Vive Targi Kielce (pot 1) by 26:25

The only draw was between Atletico Madrid and Füchse Berlin, who have set up an exciting second leg after a 29:29 draw.

Since the implementation of the new playing system in the 2009/2010 season of the VELUX EHF Champions League, only two Last 16 matches (of a total 48) had ended with a draw before: Zagreb vs Löwen 27:27 (2010/11) and Kolding vs Montpellier 26:26 (2009/10)

Ranking after the Group Phase is decisive

By looking upon the current and the previous seasons, it is obvious that the final ranking in the Group Phase is the most decisive criteria to proceed to the quarter-finals.

In the 2012/13 season, teams that ranked first in their groups achieved three away victories (Veszprem, Barcelona, Hamburg), the only exception being Kielce.

Teams which had ranked second in their groups achieved two away victories (Metalurg, Flensburg), one draw (Berlin) and only one defeat (Kiel).

In the seasons 2009/10 to 2011/12 only four teams, which had finished third and fourth in their respective groups managed to reach the quarter-finals.

The only fourth ranked team ever were Füchse Berlin in the 2011/12 season by eliminating group winner HSV Hamburg, later-on Füchse even qualified for the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne.

Ademar Leon (2011/12, by eliminating Veszprem), FC Barcelona (2010/11, by eliminating Zagreb) and HSV Hamburg (2010/11, by eliminating Valladolid) had been the only teams which finished their groups in third place and made it to the quarter-finals.

Barcelona even won the trophy in 2011 after beating THW Kiel in the quarter-finals, Rhein Neckar Löwen in the semi-final and eventually Ciudad Real in the finals.

Hamburg also made it to the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in 2011 by beating Medvedi in the quarter-finals.

The biggest leads

HSV Hamburg won at Celje 38:29 (+9) and FC Barcelona won at Bjerringbro 32:26 (+6).

The biggest ever lead after the first leg of the Last 16 since the 2009/10 season was the twelve goals achieved by THW Kiel in the 2011/12 season after winning 36:24 at Wisla Plock (POL).

The biggest deficit a team turned around in the Last 16 stage since 2009/10 was five goals. After losing 26:31 in the first leg at Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI), Montpellier made it to the quarterfinals by a 35:27 victory on their home court.

The highest number of goals:

Chekhovskie Medvedi and THW Kiel scored an overall of 72 goals in their duel (37:35).

The encounter in Chekhov was the match with the fourth biggest number of goals in the current season of this competition, only topped by 77 goals in THW Kiel vs Sävehof IK (43:34),

75 goals at Kadetten Schaffhausen vs Füchse Berlin (35:40), and 74 goals at SG Flensburg-Handewitt vs Montpellier MAHB (37:37).

The lowest number of goals

Ademar Leon and MKB Veszprem only scored 43 goals in their match (20:23). This is the third lowest number in the whole season of this competition. 39 goals were scored in the match HCM Constanta vs RK Pivovarna Lasko Celje (22:17), and 41 goals were scored in the match between Vive Targi Kielce and Metalurg Skopje (21:20).

The top scorers of the first Last 16, first leg

13 goals: Borut Mackovsek (RK Celje)
10 goals: Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg)
10 goals: Sergii Gorbok (Chekhovskie Medvedi)
10 goals: Momir Ilic (THW Kiel)
9 goals: Marcin Lijewski (HSV Hamburg)
9 goals: Naumce Mojsovski (Metalurg Skopje)
9 goals: Joan Canellas (Atletico Madrid)
9 goals: Matej Gaber (Gorenje Velenje)