Metalurg celebrate first win, Besiktas beat the Bears

Besiktas travelled to Russia as slight favourites for the tie against Chekhovskie Medvedi, but Mufit Arin's men left it late to prove their superiority. Thanks to a second half comeback Besiktas earned important points against tough opposition.

Meanwhile Macedonian club Metalurg snatched the win from visitors Sporting CP with a 58th-minute goal from Vanja Ilic to take their first two points of the tournament.

• Chekhovskie Medvedi record third straight defeat of the campaign
• First Besiktas win against the Bears in third head-to-head match
• Besiktas legend Ramazan Done added six goals to increase his overall season tally to 23 goals in three matches
• Sporting are on a three games losing streak in all competitions
• Montpellier play Motor in the clash of the group favourites on Sunday 17:30 local time on ehfTV.com

GROUP D

Chekovskie Medvedi (RUS) vs Besiktas MOGAZ HT (TUR) 27:29 (17:13)

Besiktas Mogaz HT secured their second away win in a row of their VELUX EHF Champions League campaign with a 29:27 victory over Chekhovskie Medvedi. Medvedi remain bottom of the group with zero points on their tally.

Alexander Kotov and Dmitri Santalov provided the main firepower for the Bears in the first half. The home team's high shot efficiency with 85% accuracy, especially from the central back court, made the difference in the opening 30 minutes. Besiktas were unable to react.

Tomislav Nuic levelled the score in the 44th minute as Chekhovskie Medvedi started to lose ground. Marko Krsmanic then gave Besiktas the lead two minutes later, scoring the second of his four goals in total.

Egyptian international Karim Hendawy delivered crucial saves midway through the second half as the Turkish champions massively improved thier defence and forced Bears into technical faults.

WIth the Bears leading 17:13 atthe beginning of the second half, few would have thought they would have to chase a five-goal disadvantage a few minutes later.

Just five goals between the 30th and 50th minutes were not enough to secure the win against an experienced team like Besiktas. Inconsistency and inexperience proved the crucial factors once again in the young Russian squad, while Besiktas go home with another two points.

HC Metalurg (MKD) vs Sporting CP (POR) 28:27 (17:13)

HC Metalurg took their first points of their Champions League campaign for a 28:27 win over Sporting CP after a solid performance. Hugo Canela's men were close to a draw, but failed at both ends of the court in the decisive moments.

Lino Cervar made four changes to the Metalurg side that was defeated by Besiktas at home last week and Metalurg had the edge for most of the game. Despite only a 37% shot efficiency and 48 total misses, they managed to stay ahead.

Goalkeeper Darko Arsic was the man of the moment for Metalurg, with a double save in the 24th minute, but Martin Velkovski and Vanja Ilic also stood out on the attack.

Old errors

Hugo Canela spoke about defensive errors, lack of efficiency in attack and atypical game from his side after they lost in a Portuguese classic against Porto in midweek. Unfortunately for Sporting, the same problems appeared in Skopje and afterwards Canela said there were the missed opportunities.

"We missed a lot of good attacks and didn’t score when was very important. We rushed a lot of attacks, we needed to be more patient," he said.

Sporting started in style with two saves by Aljosa Cudic, but Metalurg found their rhythm quickly. Tiago Rocha's early injury did not boost the visitors' confidence. Sporting got twice within reach of one goal in second half but in the decisive moment two minutes before the end Janko Bozovic only hit the woodwork.

When Ilic netted his third goal of the game it was all over for the Portuguese side and Metalurg celebrated.

Metalurg coach Lino Cervar said afterwards: "We were a lot better in the first half, in the second we lost a lot of balls, but the most important thing is that we won the game. That’s very important for our confidence. "