18.02.2021, 10:00
Aalborg boosted by Mikkel’s signature and Barthold goals

GROUP B REVIEW: Danish side secure their highest score of the season, causing Zagreb’s eleventh defeat in eleven group matches

On the historic day when Mikkel Hansen announced his signing for Aalborg Håndbold from 2022 onwards, his future club was on a high; the Danish side took their sixth group phase victory and the first one in 2021, beating HC PPD Zagreb comfortably 38:29, boosted by the nine goals of Sebastian Barthold.

GROUP B

Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs. HC PPD Zagreb (CRO) 38:29 (22:14)

• Thanks to the victory, Aalborg pass HC Motor and take third place from the Ukrainian side, which is level on 12 points.
• Aalborg had never before scored 22 goals in the first half of any EHF Champions League match - their previous best was a 19:16 at Veszprem this season.
• Aalborg’s Norwegian, Sebastian Barthold, had a perfect start, as he scored 4 of their first 6 and 7 of their first 12. In the end, he had nine goals on his tally.
• Including Barthold and Mark Marcher (eight goals today, 25 in total), now eight Aalborg players have scored 25 or more times in the group phase.
• The host were close to their biggest ever EHF Champions League victory, a +14 in the 37:23 win against Halmstad (Sweden) in 2013. While Zagreb were close to their worst ever result.

Since the 2015/16 season, when the group phase of the EHF Champions League was played with eight teams per group, the lowest number points is two after 14 matches, by Besiktas in 2015/16 and Schaffhausen in 2016/17. HC PPD Zagreb have zero points on their account now, but still have three chances (at Nantes and Kiel and home to Veszprem) not to finish the season empty-handed. The lowest results of the Croatian record champions since 2015/16 were five points in the 2019/20 season and six points in 2017/18.

TEXT: EHF / Björn Pazen