Facts and figures of the Last 16

The Last 16 of the 2012/13 season of the VELUX EHF Champions League was completed last Sunday and here are some facts and figures from this round and the teams which proceeded to the next stage.

Eight teams from five nations have made it to the quarter-finals. Germany is represented by three participants (THW Kiel, SG Flensburg-Handewitt and HSV Hamburg), Spain by two (FC Barcelona Intersport and Atlético Madrid), and Poland (Vive Targi Kielce), FYR Macedonia (Metalurg Skopje) and Hungary (MKB Veszprém) by one each. For Polish and Macedonian clubs it is the first time ever to be among the eight best teams of the VELUX EHF Champions League.

Since the change of the playing system before the season 2009/10 only three teams have made it to all quarter-finals including the current season: FC Barcelona Intersport, THW Kiel, Atlético Madrid

Those teams of the 2011/12 quarter-finals have managed to come so far again: FC Barcelona Intersport, and the two 2012 VELUX EHF FINAL4 finallists THW Kiel and Atlético Madrid.

Those teams of the 2010/11 quarter-finals have managed to come so far again:
SG Flensburg-Handewitt, HSV Hamburg, FC Barcelona Intersport, THW Kiel, Atlético Madrid

Those teams of the 2009/10 quarter-finals have managed to come so far again:
HSV Hamburg, FC Barcelona Intersport, MKB Veszprém, THW Kiel, Atlético Madrid

In the overall statistics defending champions THW Kiel and record winner FC Barcelona Intersport are on top of the “quarter-final ranking” with 14 participations each (including the current season), followed by MKB Veszprém (12) and Atlético Madrid with the brilliant series of ten quarter-finals in ten EHF Champions League participations.

THW Kiel: 14 quarter-final participations in 16 appearances, since 2005 part of every quarter-final
FC Barcelona Intersport: 14 quarter-final participations in 16 appearances, since 2005 part of every quarter-final with one exception (2009)
MKB Veszprém: 12 quarter-final participation, but only once in the final, no trophy by now
Atlético Madrid: 10 quarter-final participations in 10 appearances, since 2004 part of every quarter-final, including their former name Ciudad Real.
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 7 quarter-final participations
HSV Hamburg: 5 quarter-final participations in 6 appearances in the VELUX EHF Champions League

The VELUX EHF Champions League history of all teams:

Three teams (representing 13 trophies) of the 19 previous EHF and VELUX EHF Champions League winners have made it to the Last 16 of this season: FC Barcelona (7 titles), THW Kiel (3) and Atletico Madrid (3).

All finalists since the 2006/2007 season are among the 8 teams qualified for the quarter-finals: THW Kiel (5 finals since 2007), Atlético Madrid (4 including former name Ciudad Real), FC Barcelona Intersport (2), SG Flensburg-Handewitt (1).

Points, points, points:

MKB Veszprém, Vive Targi Kielce and FC Barcelona Intersport are on top of the overall ranking of this season by 11 victories and only one defeat each. Atletico Madrid made it to the quarter-finals with the lowest number of points (13) in 12 matches from all teams.
The overall results of the eight teams:
MKB Veszprém: 11 victories – 0 draws – 1 defeat
FC Barcelona Intersport: 11– 0–1
Vive Targi Kielce: 11– 0– 1
THW Kiel: 9-0-3
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 8-3-1
Metalurg Skopje: 8-0-4
HSV Hamburg: 8-2-2
Atlético Madrid 6-1-5

Draws, home and away victories in the Last 16:
Away victories:7 (including 5 in the first leg)
Home victories: 8 (including 2 in the first leg)
The only draw: Atletico Madrid and Füchse Berlin 29:29 in the first leg.

The only teams which managed to win both leg in this Last 16 were FC Barcelona Intersport (against Bjerringbro Silkeborg), MKB Vesprem (against Ademar Leon), SG Flensburg-Handewitt (against Gorenje Velenje) and Metalurg Skopje (against Dinamo Minsk).

Vive Targi Kielce (against Pick Szeged) and THW Kiel (against Chekhovskie Medvedi) turned deficits from the first leg into aggregate victories.
Atletico Madrid turned a draw on home ground into the qualification for the quarter-finals by winning at Füchse Berlin.

Since the implementation of the new playing system in the 2009/2010 season of the VELUX EHF Champions League only three Last 16 matches (of in total 64) ended with a draw: Zagreb – Löwen 27:27 (2010/11) and Kolding – Montpellier 26:26 (2009/10), Atletico Madrid – Füchse Berlin 29:29 (2012/13)

Only eight of 136 matches of this season ended by a draw.
The overall statistics of this season’s 136 matches of Group Phase and Last 16: 82 home victories – 8 draws – 46 away victories.

Goals, goals, goals

The biggest gap of the Last 16:
MKB Veszprém beat Ademar León by an aggregate of 11 goals (56:45), followed by FC Barcelona Intersport, beating Bjerringbro in aggregate by 8 goals (58:50).

The smallest gap of the Last 16:

One single goal, scored by Kiril Lazarov 25 seconds before the end of the second leg decided the encounter Füchse Berlin vs. Atletico Madrid. Finally the Spaniards had won in aggregate by 56:55. The second smallest margin were two goals of THWKiel against Chekhovskie Medvedi (65:63 in aggregate).

The biggest number of goals:

Chekhovskie Medvedi and THW Kiel scored an overall of 72 goals in their first duel (37:35). The encounter in Chekhov was the match with the fourth biggest number of goals in the current season of this competition.
Matches with the highest number of goals:

77 goals: THW Kiel – Sävehof IK 43:34 (GP)
75 goals: Kadetten Schaffhausen – Füchse Berlin 35:40 (GP)
74 goals: SG Flensburg-Handewitt – Montpellier MAHB 37:37 (GP)
72 goals: Chekhovskie Medvedi vs. THW Kiel 37:35 (L16)
69 goals: Sävehof IK – THW Kiel 29:40 (GP)
69 goals: Chekhovskie Medvedi – Partizan Beograd 38:31(GP)
68 goals: Partizan Beograd – SG Flensburg-Handewittt 31:37 (GP)
68 goals: HSV Hamburg – Montpellier MAHB 35:33 (GP)
68 goals: RK Zagreb – Kadetten Schaffhausen 38:30 (GP)

20 of 136 matches were won by a difference of ten and more goals, none of them in the Last 16.

The lowest number of goals:

Ademar Leon and MKB Veszprém only scored 43 goals in their first 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 – RK Pivovarna Laško Celje (22:17), 41 goals were scored in the match Vive Targi Kielce - Metalurg Skopje (21:20). And the fifth is also for a Last 16 match, the second leg of Skopje vs. Minsk (46 goals/24:22).

Matches with the lowest number of goals:

39 goals: HCM Constanta – RK Pivovarna Laško Celje 22:17 (GP)
41 goals: Vive Targi Kielce  - Metalurg Skopje 21:20 (GP)
43 goals: Ademar Leon -  MKB Veszprém 20:23 (L16)
44 goals: Metalurg Skopje – Vive Targi Kielce 21:23 (GP)
46 goals: Metalurg Skopje – Dinamo Minsk 24:22 (L16)

GP = Group Phase, L16 = Last 16

The best overall defence of all teams:

Metalurg Skopje are still clearly on top of the overall defence ranking of the current season by 260 goals conceded in 12 matches (an average of only 21,6 goals). Veszprem are runners-up as only one of two teams with less than 300 conceded goals.

Metalurg Skopje: 260
MKB Veszprem 287
Vive Targi Kielce 302
FC Barcelona Intersport 302
Atletico Madrid: 324
THW Kiel: 328
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 329
HSV Hamburg: 332

The best overall attack of all teams:

Like after the Group Phase THW Kiel are number 1 with the best attack, as the defending champions have already scored 394 goals and are ahead of runners-up FC Barcelona 15 goals. Metalurg Skopje – team with the best defence – have the lowest number of goals in this ranking.

THW Kiel: 394
FC Barcelona Intersport: 379
HSV Hamburg: 379
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: 365
Vive Targi Kielce: 362
MKB Veszprém: 351
Atlético Madrid: 324
Metalurg Skopje: 321

The top scorers of the first Last 16 leg:
13 goals: Borut Mačkovšek (RK Celje)
10 goals: Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg)
10 goals: Sergii Gorbok (Chekhovskie Medvedi)
10 goals: Momir Ilić (THW Kiel)
9 goals: Marcin Lijewski (HSV Hamburg)
9 goals: Naumče Mojsovski (Metalurg Skopje)
9 goals: Joan Canellas (Atlético Madrid)
9 goals: Matej Gaber (Gorenje Velenje)

The top scorers of the second Last 16 leg:
9 goals: Holger Glandorf (SG Flensburg)
9 goals: Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona)
8 goals: Casper Ulrich Mortensen (Bjerringbro)
8 goals: Klemen Cehte (Gorenje Velenje)
8 goals: Carlos Ruesga (Ademar León)
8 goals: Konstantin Igropulo (Füchse Berlin)
8 goals: Jonas Larhom (Pick Szeged)
8 goals: Thórir Ólafsson (Vive Targi Kielce)

Best overall scorer of the Last 16 was Borut Mačkovšek (RK Celje) with in total 20 goals.

Top scorers after the Last 16

Two Danish wing players are among the three top scorers and two Flensburg players are ranked third – but the biggest surprise are the three Slovenians among the top 10 after the Last 16.

1. Hans Lindberg (HSV Hamburg) 80
2. Gašper Marguč (RK Celje) 72
3. Anders Eggert (SG Flensburg-Handewitt), Holger Glandorf (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) 68
5. Naumce Mojsovski (Metalurg Skopje) 67
6. Jure Dolenec (Gorenje Velenje), František Šulc (Pick Szeged) 64
8. Borut Mačkovšek (RK Celje), Timur Dibirov (Chekhovskie Medvedi), Siarhei Rutenka (FC Barcelona) 62