Midtjylland storm through as Vardar and Györ clinch top spots

The final matchday of the Women’s EHF Champions League main round served a vastly entertaining tripleheader which panned out the remaining dilemmas of the fiercely competitive second group stage.

Danes Midtjylland peaked after overcoming a stiff challenge by Thüringer to advance to the 3-4 May Women's EHF FINAL4 alongside Group 1 winners Vardar, who made no mistake against Sävehof in front of a fervent Macedonian crowd.

Holders Györ needed to win to finish ahead of Buducnost in Group 2 and lived up to expectations after edging Larvik thanks to yet another flowing team effort, which underlined their potential to win a second successive title on what will effectively be home court in Budapest.   

Group 1
FC Midtjylland (DEN) vs Thüringer HC (GER) 26:20 (15:10)

What a party Midtjylland’s success started in Denmark, with the Women’s EHF Champions League title beckoning if Scandinavian perseverance is to get the better of Balkan flair and Hungarian fortitude in the eagerly-awaited showpiece event in Budapest.

Following a jittery start in which they ground a slender 7:6 lead, Midtjylland moved up a gear in the closing stages of the first half when they turned an 11:10 advantage into a five-goal cushion at the interval.

Needing to overcome a 26:24 setback from the reverse fixture, the Danish contenders stepped up their defence intensity after the break and engineered a massive 18:10 lead in the 34th minute, which put a huge amount of pressure on the battling visitors.

Thüringer bravely fought back to reduce the gap to 20:15 but Midtjylland had too much firepower for their German rivals in the closing stages and booked their FINAL4 berth after Line Jörgensen led the final onslaught in front of a rapturous home crowd.

Jörgensen finished as the game’s joint top scorer with six goals. Dutch dynamo Cornelia Groot and Trine Jensen added five each for Midtjylland, whose line player Susan Torp Thorsgaard chippen in with four.

Inspirational playmaker Alexandrina Cabral Barbosa scored six goals for Thüringer, who can look back with a lot of pride on a thrilling European season in which they gave as good as they got all the way.

WHC Vardar SCBT (MKD) vs IK Savedhof (SWE) 24:18 (11:9)

At the first time of asking, FYR Macedonia’s rising force Vardar powered into the Women's EHF FINAL4 in Budapest with a hard-fought win over Sävehof who were able to bow out of the Europe’s premier club competition with their heads high after putting up a valiant effort in Skopje.

Vardar finished top of their main round group and will meet fellow former Yugoslavs Buducnost Podgorica for a berth in the grand final in what should be a mouth-watering clash of the titans in the Hungarian capital.

It was not all plain sailing for Vardar against Sävehof and they had to fight hard for an 11:9 half-time lead against the spirited underdogs determined to give the favourites a good run for their money.

Led by Serbia playmaker Andrea Lekic, the expensively assembled Macedonian outfit raced into a 6:0 lead in front of their passionate fans but the Swedish side fought back to cut the deficit to a respectable scoreline by halftime.

However, Lekic kept going at full throttle and finished with a game-high seven goals for Vardar, with Tatiana Khmyrova, Allison Pineau and speedy winger Jovanka Radicevic contributing with four goals apiece for the winners.

Jamina Roberts capped a fine individual performance with six goals for Sävehof, but the competition’s top scorer Ida Oden felt the brunt of the home team’s ironclad defence and scored a single goal in the one-sided contest.

Group  2

Györi Audi ETO (HUN) vs Larvik (NOR) 31:29 (14:12)

Expectably, holders Györ secured the group’s top spot and booked a semi-final showdown with Midtjylland after yet another effervescent performance by playmaker Anita Görbicz steered them to a hard-fought home win over 2011 champions Larvik.

The Norwegian title holders were determined to bid Europe’s premier club competition farewell with a vintage performance and did so in no uncertain terms, pushing the competition’s favourites to the limit in a high-scoring encounter in front of a vociferous Hungarian crowd.

Görbicz capped a memorable regular season with seven goals for Györ, staying third on the top scorer’s list with a total of 66 – one behind former team mate Andrea Lekic. Görbicz and Lekic have emerged as joint favourites to top the scoring charts after Sävehof’s Ida Oden ended her campaign on 68.

Towering Montenegrin right back Katarina Bulatovic added six for Györ, emphasising her ambition to win her second Champions League title after lifting the title with Buducnost in 2012.  

Anja Hammerseng-Edin conjured her best performance of the season with a game-high 11 goals for Larvik and talented right back Nora Mörk netted seven, but defensive frailties once again cost the Norwegians dearly.