As GOG beat RK Trimo Trebnje in the second match of their EHF European League Men double-header on Wednesday, the significance of the result was huge for the whole of group D.

Below group D winners Rhein-Neckar Löwen, all three spots for the Last 16 are now confirmed: GOG, Eurofarm Pelister and Kadetten Schaffhausen will proceed to the knockout stage – but the final order for the places from second to fourth will be decided in the last round next week. 

GROUP D
RK Trimo Trebnje (SLO) vs GOG (DEN) 27:30 (13:16)

• With 12 points from nine matches, including five victories in the last six rounds, GOG are in second place before the last round, three points behind Löwen
• it was Trebnje’s sixth defeat in a row after Uros Zorman's team began the campaign with four points from the first two group matches 
• after the thrilling 32:31 match on Tuesday, the second match was mostly one-sided
• Trebnje’s 1:0 lead was their only lead in the whole match, and the 7:7 score was the last time that the teams were level 
• GOG netted four straight goals after the break, giving them a 20:13 lead at a crucial stage of the match

Another GOG young gun tops the scorers' list  

On Tuesday, in GOG’s thrilling 32:31 win against Trebnje, 23-year-old right wing Emil Jakobsen was GOG’s top scorer. 

On Wednesday, their best scorer was even younger: Simon Pytlick netted seven times from 11 attempts, while Jakobsen only scored three times.

Post-match quotes

"We are happy about both results. We came down here to make sure that we are better then Trimo. In today's game, Viktor (Hallgrimsson) had a really good game and he made the biggest difference. We have a comeback from Emile Lærke, who has been injured for the last seven months, so we are very happy to see him back at the court," said GOG head coach Nicolej Krickau.

"The boys were tired, both physically and mentally, and we simply could not match the better opponent today. We tried to come back in the second half, but we didn't succeed due to too many mistakes. It was a great experience for us to play against world-renowned players. There are also some players who have become world champions, so we were honoured to play against them," said Trimo Trebnje assistant coach Marko Meznarsic.