Three straightforward wins for the big dogs
Veszprem are on top of Group A again after beating Besiktas easily.
With seven points on their account, they are ahead of Kiel and Paris by one point.
GROUP A
MVM Veszprem (HUN) vs Besiktas Jimnastik Kolobu (TUR) 33:25 (17:12)
Despite missing their left-handed top stars Laszlo Nagy and Christian Zeitz, Veszprem did not have any problems remaining unbeaten leader of Group A after four rounds of the group phase.
For interim coach Xavier Sabate it was the third win in his third VELUX EHF Champions League match, while Besiktas remain on zero points, though they showed a brave performance.
Two Serbians were top scorers on each side: Momir Illc scored nine times for the hosts while Darko Djukic netted in six times for the Turkish champions, who lost two players to red cards: Ramazan Döne (direct red card) and Josip Buljobasic (after three suspensions).
Up until the 14th minute with the score reading 9:7 the match was on even pegging, then the favoured 2015 VELUX EHF FINAL4 finalists forged ahead to a five-goal lead at the break.
But then Veszprem started to lack concentration, mainly in attack.
Besiktas grabbed their chances, improved their defence and reduced the gap to 19:22 after 40 minutes.
“Besiktas is a really good project, which can become a really good team in future,”
Sabate praised the opponent, as well did line player Andreas Nilsson: “Besiktas gave us a real fight, we had a lot of chances, but their goalkeeper was in a fantastic form.”
But when Ilic netted to make it 29:23, the deal was sealed and Veszprem are now ready for the top clash - the re-match of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2015 against THW Kiel.
And Sabate knows that his team needs to improve: “We made a lot of technical mistakes, today, so this must change against Kiel.”
Besiktas coach Mufit Arin was not that disappointed with the performance of his team: “Veszprem deserved the victory, sometimes we could show our strengths.
“We work a lot to make our handball project successful.”
SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER vs RK Celje (SLO) 30:20 (13:10)
The third straight defeat for Celje, ends Flensburg’s poor run: The duel of the former EHF Champions League winners was a clear win for the 2014 champions, who celebrate their second win on home court after suffering two close away defeats at Veszprem and Kiel.
Celje remain on two points.
21 saves from goalkeeper Mattias Andersson and eight goals from Anders Eggert were key for the victory.
Flensburg forged ahead easily to 7:3 and 11:4, when they somehow lost their rhythm and pace.
Thanks to their strongest period, Celje managed to reduce the gap to 10:13 at the break, but that was as close as it got for the Slovenian champions.
The hosts started with 100 per cent concentration, with Andersson backing them with saves and SG again extended the gap easily with pinpoint counter-attack goals making it 23:17.
Celje surrendered, and Flensburg scored four more for the first double figured margin at 27:17.
And from there out Flensburg saw out the game for a 30:20 win.
PSG Paris (FRA) vs RK Zagreb (CRO) 34:23 (18:8)
Zagreb at home is not like Zagreb away, and the Paris engines start really roaring: This really sums up this one-sided match in the French capital.
Led by an incredible one-man Mikkel Hansen show (in total ten goals), the French champions left no doubt who was the more powerful team from the early stages.
Zagreb could not stop the Danish joint top scorer of the VELUX EHF Champions League, and the young Croats had too much respect in attack for the Parisian wall.
When the score was 10:4 after only 17 minutes, the fans got to their feet, and Zagreb did not find any means.
At the break the gap was 18:8, and as the Croatian resistance had been broken, PSG could slow down a bit.
The closest the gap ever got after the break was a seven-goal margin, but the third straight PSG victory was, in reality, never endangered.
TEXT: Björn Pazen / bc
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