Porto and Holstebro open with comfortable wins

With the last four goals in the match, right wing Kasper Kildelund changed the score from 25:25 to a 29:25 win for TTH Holstebro against HC Dubrogea Sud Constanta in the opening match in Group C.

Meanwhile FC Porto Sofarma only had a little trouble with Liberbank Cuenca during the first 20 minutes of the Iberian derby against the Spanish EHF Cup debutants. The last 40 minutes of the match completely belonged to Porto who cruised to an 11-goal win.

• Holstebro’s Kasper Kildelund scored the last four goals of the match
• Constanta were leading by three goals late in the second half
• Magnus Bramming scored eight goals for Holstebro
• Leonardo Ferreira scored 10 goals for Cuenca
• Daymaro Amador and Antonio Rodrigues scored six goals each for Porto

GROUP C
TTH Holstebro (DEN) vs HC Dubrogea Sud Constanta (ROU) 29:25 (14:12)

Kasper Kildelund left it to the last three minutes of the match to score any goals for TTH Holstebro, but those four shots secured the home side the win.

Holstebro were leading for most of the first half, and several times by three goals, but Constanta's back court and line players enabled the visitors to hang on. Although Holstebro got four goals up at 16:12 at the start of the second half, the visitors took the lead at 18:17, less than eight minutes into the second half.

A stellar performance from Nikola Mitrevski contributed to Constanta leading by three goals several times, but by playing seven against six in the attack and defending in a 5-1 formation, the home team drew level again before Kildelund's four goals decided the matter.

“It was a strange match, but changing into seven on six helped a bit, and fortunately, we were able to concentrate at the end,” said Kildelund afterwards.

FC Porto Sofarma (POR) vs Liberbank Cuenca (ESP) 37:26 (20:12)

A large number of Cuenca fans added to the atmosphere in the Dragao Caixa, but they were already quiet by the last 10 minutes of the first half, as Porto really pulled away.

Until then, the game was even, and after Porto had been leading 3:1, the visitors were one goal up most of the following 15 minutes.

From being down 8:7, however, the hosts took over completely, stretching out to an eight-goal lead which they maintained until the halftime buzzer.

With the match virtually decided before the break, Porto could focus on holding on to their big lead and even increase a bit every now and then.

They got their first 10-goal lead at 30:20, and for the rest of the match, they were leading by nine or 10 goals before increasing their win to 11 in the last seconds.