13.10.2019, 06:59
Pick Szeged take clear MOTW win

MATCH OF THE WEEK REVIEW: By winning the first 20 minutes by 10 goals, MOL-Pick Szeged forged a clear path to an away win against Aalborg Handbold

Pick Szeged take clear MOTW win

Through an impressive performance in the first 20 minutes, MOL-Pick Szeged stormed to victory in the VELUX EHF Champions League Match of the Week for round 4.

As they led by 10 goals after 20 minutes, the foundations for Szeged's impressive win in Sunday's match were built in the early stages. With 11 goals, line player Bence Banhidi strongly contributed to the Hungarian side's clear 35:28 win.

• Szeged line player Bence Banhidi was awarded player of the match – presented by Plan International
• Bence Banhidi scored 11 goals for Szeged, while Henrik Møllgaard scored seven for Aalborg
• Aalborg are still above Szeged in group A with six points, while Szeged are on five

GROUP A
MOTW: Aalborg Handbold (DEN) vs MOL-Pick Szeged (HUN) 28:35 (17:22)

Brilliantly led by playmaker Dean Bombac, MOL-Pick Szeged were completely dominant from the start against Aalborg Handbold. After just nine minutes, Aalborg coach Stefan Madsen called his first timeout, but that did not help his team as they trailed 9:3.

Aalborg tried a 5-1 defence and playing with an extra attacking player, but that did not help either as Szeged extended their lead to 10 goals – firstly at 17:7 and then 18:8.

✈ @pickhandball are flying vs #AalborgHandbold in #MOTW... literally! Watch this inflight goal as Richard Bono perfectly sets up Bogdan Radivojevic #veluxehfcl #ehfcl pic.twitter.com/sytKwmgzIV

— EHF Champions League (@ehfcl) October 13, 2019

Returning to playing six against six, Aalborg gradually got more into the game and managed to cut the deficit in half by half-time.

However, in the second half, Szeged never allowed Aalborg any genuine prospect of a comeback.

Through greater experience and a deeper squad, the visitors made sure that their opponents did not get any closer than six goals down. The cooperation between the back court players and line player Bence Banhidi functioned particularly well, with Banhidi benefiting from this to score 11 goals and receive the player of the match award.

Szeged left wing Jonas Källman was pleased with how they played as a team on Sunday. He said: "We played fantastic as a team today, and that was exactly what we needed. We had some difficult times along the match, and Aalborg punished us in those periods. We managed to stop those periods and instead we succeeded in getting the easy goals from fast breaks."

Aalborg Handbold left wing Mark Strandgaard did not feel his side played to their potential. He said: "Szeged came with a lot of power and tempo from the beginning. We knew that, but we did not succeed in matching that. We had an amazing crowd behind us all game long, but we couldn’t deliver the result that we all hoped for."

TEXT: Peter Bruun / jw