25.02.2021, 07:00
Gade and Barthold secure Aalborg’s away points

GROUP B REVIEW: Motor give away 27:25 advantage in the last four minutes and lose to the Danish side for the second time

What a comeback by Aalborg Håndbold at Zaporozhye! Hosts Motor seemed to be on to winning ways after a mostly close match, then Danish side scored the last four goals to take third position in the standings. 

GROUP B:
HC Motor (UKR) vs. Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) 27:29 (15:14) 

• After losing at Veszprém and Kiel, Motor seemed to be back on track, but then continued their negative run with their third defeat in three Champions League matches in 2021.   
• Aalborg hit back after their 26:28 loss at Kiel on Tuesday - and have won both group matches against Motor after the 39:29 in the first leg. 
• Aalborg are on 14 points from 13 matches, while Motor remain on twelve points from 12 matches.  
• After an equal start, Aalborg pulled a head to 9:6, then Motor levelled the result at 11:11, before they took the upper hand right after the break. 
• The biggest gap were four goals, and after trailing 25:27, Aalborg turned it around. 
• After scoring seven goals against Kiel, Aalborg’s Norwegian winger Sebastian Barthold was top scorer again in Zaporozhye with eleven goals from 14 attempts - his overall tally is 44 goals so far. 

80 seconds to forget for Motor 

What happened to Motor in crunch-time? They were ahead 27:25, then conceded two goals for the equaliser - followed by 80 seconds to forget: After a time-out, Motor’s veteran Barys Pukhouski caused an unforced turnover, Henrik Möllgaard scored for 28:27. In the next attack, Artem Kozakevych failed with a penalty shot against Aalborg keeper Simion Gade, and finally who else but Barthold scored the winning strike. 

TEXT: EHF / Björn Pazen