Barcelona, Hamburg, Persson and KIF top the rankings

16 of the 24 teams have survived the group phase and made it into the four pots of the draw for the VELUX EHF Champions League Last16. We delved into the stats to find out who and which team scored the highest number of goals, how many nations are still represented and which was the group match with the highest attendance, as well as many other interesting facts and figures.

0 teams had a perfect record of ten victories in the group phase – unlike Kielce in the previous season. Barcelona and Veszprém were unbeaten until their final matches, but lost in Kharkov and Skopje.

0 teams finished the group phase with 0 zero points, but unlike last season, when each of the 24 teams at least had one victory on their accounts, St. Petersburg, Thun and Halmstad ended up with just one point each.

1 match ended with less than 40 goals: Dunkerque vs. KIF Kolding-Kobenhavn (18:20)

1 – for the first time ever since the implementation of the recent playing system in the 2009/10 season a team from Ukraine made it to the Last 16: Motor Zaporozhye.

2 teams are debutants in the knock-out stage of the EHF Champions League: Aalborg and Zaporozhye.

3 matches were attended by 10,000 or more spectators.

3 nations are represented by the four group winners: Germany (Kiel and Hamburg), Hungary (Veszprém) and Spain (Barcelona).

4 teams (all) who were part of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2013 are still in the race for the tournament in Cologne on 31 May/1 June: Barcelona, Hamburg, Kielce and Kiel.

4 teams arriving from qualification have made it to the knock-out stage: Zaporozhye, the only winner of a qualification tournament to clinch their berth, and the three winners of the wild-card play-offs: Hamburg, Metalurg and Plock.

6 matches ended with 70 or more goals scored.

6 times Barcelona won their matches by a difference of ten or more goals.

8 matches ended with one-goal victories.

8 matches ended with 45 or less goals scored.

8 pairings will follow in the Last 16; the teams ranked first and second have the home right in the second leg. And none of them will be a pairing of two teams from the same nation due to the final rankings of the group phase.

8 straight victories was the brilliant run of form by FC Barcelona from Rounds 2 to 9, before they were defeated by Metalurg on Sunday.

9 nations are represented by those 16 remaining teams: Germany (4 teams), Slovenia (2), Denmark (2), Poland (2), FYR Macedonia (2), Hungary, Ukraine, Spain, France (each 1). In the previous season it had been the same number. In contrast to 2012/13, Russia and Belarus are out, France and Ukraine are in.

9 teams, who were part of the Last 16 in the 2012/13 season return to the knock-out stage: Barcelona, Veszprém, Kielce, Celje, Hamburg, Kiel, Metalurg, Velenje and Flensburg.

11 of 120 group phase matches ended in a draw.

18 points, reached by defending champions Hamburg, was the highest number in the group phase.

19 goals were the biggest difference in a single match, when Barcelona beat Wacker Thun 45:26.

23 matches ended with a difference of ten or more goals.

35 goals were the overall biggest aggregate goal difference in the two matches of Barcelona vs Wacker Thun (39:23 and 45:26).

41 away victories occurred in the group phase.

42 matches ended with 60 or more goals scored.

67 times Magnus Persson (DROTT Halmstad/SWE) found the net to become top scorer of the group phase, but he and his club bow out of the competition at this stage.

68 times the home team left the court victorious.

73 goals were scored in the match HSV Hamburg vs Gorenje Velenje (41:32) – the group phase match with the highest number of goals.

+ 92 was the best goal difference of all teams, reached by FC Barcelona.

120 matches were played in the group phase. 16 more will follow in the Last 16, followed by eight matches in the quarter-finals and four at the VELUX EHF FINAL4.

137 goals were scored in both encounters of Hamburg vs Velenje (41:32 and 36:29 for HSV).

240 conceded goals was the lowest number of all teams, KIF Kolding-Kobenhavn had the best defence.

348 goals were scored by FC Barcelona was the best attacking return of all 24 teams.

7,200 minutes of handball was played in the group phase.

15,320 spectators attended the match Dinamo Minsk vs. FC Barcelona – the highest attendance of all group matches.

The 'top three' lists:

Best attack:
348 goals – FC Barcelona
330 goals – HSV Hamburg
315 goals – PSG Handball

Best defence:
240 goals – KIF Kolding-Kobenhavn
243 goals – MKB-MVM Veszprém
252 goals – Rhein Neckar Löwen

Best goal difference:
+92 goals – FC Barcelona
+64 goals – HSV Hamburg
+60 goals – MKB-MVM Veszprém

Top scorers:
67 goals – Magnus Persson (DROTT Halmstad)
65 goals – Gasper Marguc (RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko)
62 goals – Momir Ilic (MKB-MVM Veszprém)
62 goals – Renato Vugrinec (Metalurg Skopje)

Matches with the highest number of goals:
73 goals - HSV Hamburg vs. Gorenje Velenje (41:32)
72 goals - DROTT Halmstad vs. Gorenje Velenje (32:40)
72 goals - Naturhouse La Rioja vs. DROTT Halmstad (38:34)
71 goals - MKB-MVM Veszprém vs. Motor Zaporozhye (44:27)
71 goals - FC Barcelona vs. Wacker Thun (45:26)

Matches with the lowest number of goals:
38 goals - Dunkerque vs. KIF Kolding-Kobenhavn (18:20)
43 goals - FC Porto vs. Dunkerque (22:21)
44 goals - FC Porto – Orlen Wisla Plock (20:24)
44 goals - Vardar Skopje vs. Metalurg Skopje (18:26)

Biggest goal difference in a single match:
19 goals - FC Barcelona vs. Wacker Thun (45:26)
18 goals - FC Barcelona vs. HC Metalurg (35:17)
17 goals - MKB-MVM Veszprém vs. Motor Zaporozhye (44:27)

Spectators:
15,320 - Dinamo Minsk vs. FC Barcelona
11,000 - RK Zagreb vs. MKB-MVM Veszprém
10,200 - THW Kiel vs. Vive Targi Kielce