Russian side HC CSKA won convincingly against their Croatian opponents RK Nexe and with it, welcomed their first-ever win in the EHF European League Men.

From the start of the match, CSKA appeared more motivated with Pavel Atman leading, youngster Sergey Nikolaenkov shooting and Victor Kireev securing the goal.

Nexe had a problem with their shooting efficiency and failed to deliver after last week’s good performance against Montpellier and sit on just one win this season.

GROUP C

HC CSKA (RUS) vs RK Nexe (CRO) 29:18 (15:8)

• Marin Jelinic and Tomi Vozab were withdrawn from the Nexe playing squad in the last moments
• Both goalkeepers had an effective first half – CSKA’s Victor Kireev had a 58% save efficiency, while Nexe’s Moreno Car sat on 42%
• The shooters of Nexe could only manage eight first half strikes, with a 32% strike-to-shot ratio, CSKA were 58%
• Nexe did not score between 16th-27th minute
• Mikhail Vinogradov and Ilya Ryabov scored five goals each for CSKA

Russian Minister of Defence

Goalkeeper Victor Kireev was crucial to CSKA’s big, historic win with 17 saves from 35 shots, ending on a 55% save rate – and this was just in 45 minutes on court for the 33-year-old.

CSKA go into their next game, against bottom side Besiktas Aygaz at home next Tuesday (1 December), boosted by their top-form performance tonight.