Elverum had a tough evening on Friday in the first leg of the play-offs against Barça, losing 25:37.

The result meant Barça almost had their quarter-final ticket in their hands, but their players still had to control their advantage in the second leg – and they delivered with an even more emphatic 39:19 victory.

PLAY-OFFS, LEG 2
Barça (ESP) vs Elverum Handball (NOR) 39:19 (20:10)
First leg: 37:25. Aggregate result: 76:44

• despite Emil Kari Imsgard stopping six of the first eight shots aimed at Elverum’s goal, Barça proved to be the best team on the court right from the start and led 20:10 at the break
• Barça tightened their grip on the game in the second half, as Elverum increasingly faced problems in scoring, and led by 20 goals in the 57th minute
• Barça’s Mamadou Diocou and Elverum’s Dominik Mathe both scored six times
• the loss was Elverum’s biggest defeat ever in the Champions League; the previous record was a 2015 loss to Skjern, 23:37
• in the quarter-finals, Barça will face the winner of the confrontation between Motor Zaporozhye and Meshkov Brest

Barça: 16 players at the top level

With qualification almost in hand even before throw-off, Xavi Pascual made the choice to open up his bench, giving some play time to Mamadou Diocou, Haniel Langaro and Alex Pascual. That was the best possibility for them to gather some Champions League performance, as well as for the stars to rest.

And they all delivered, as the right wing Diocou finished as his side’s best scorer of the game with six goals, while Langaro netted four and Pascual two.