Despite Aron Palmarsson making his Champions League debut for Aalborg Håndbold, a strong goalkeeping performance from Simon Gade and eight goals from Felix Claar, the EHF Champions League Men 2020/21 runners-up came close to defeat against HC Meshkov Brest.

After an intense fight and a thrilling goal fest, the hosts – who had played three IHF Super Globe matches last week – were fortunate 34:33 winners and now have six points on their account. 

GROUP A
Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs HC Meshkov Brest (BLR) 34:33 (18:18)

• Norwegians Sebastian Barthold (six goals) and Kristian Björnsen (four goals) scored 10 of Aalborg's goals in the first half, while Meshkov Brest had seven different scorers before the break
• in the second half, Felix Claar started his engine to finish as the Danish side's top scorer with eight goals, and goalkeeper Simon Gade shut up shop, but Aalborg still had Brest breathing down their necks
• Brest's last lead in the match was in the 38th minute (23:24), but they were close to turning the match around when Aalborg led 33:32 with less than two minutes left
• Aalborg’s biggest lead in the second half was three goals, which they held four times, and Lukas Sandell's goal that gave them a 34:32 advantage sealed their win
• French left back Baptiste Bonnefond had his best performance since his arrival at Brest, scoring eight goals

Aron Palmarsson shines in his Champions League comeback

In the first Danish league match of the season for Aalborg, which they won clearly against Ringsted, new arrival Aron Palmarsson injured his thigh.

Since then, the top new arrival at the Danish champions has been ruled out. On Wednesday, in his comeback match, he scored two goals in his first EHF Champions League match for the Danish side.

Interestingly, his last Champions League match was against Aalborg, in the EHF Champions League Men 2020/21 final in June, which he won with Barça.