Sporting CP and Füchse Berlin provided huge entertainment and a lot of quality goals in a spectacular handball party with the Bundesliga slightly ahead at the finish. Another dramatic game ended in a draw, Kielce and Aalborg couldn’t be separated.
Kielce reduced some of Aalborg´s supremacy much to the liking of the home crowd. The Polish team had to bounce back from Jorge Maqueda´s red card, still for most of the first half Aalborg was trailing behind. In the end Buster Juul-Larsen saved a point and Aalborg´s unbeaten streak to 32–32. The top scorers were the usual suspects, Alex Dujshebaev in Kielce and Juri Knorr for Aalborg with seven goals each.
Also in group A, HBC Nantes ran over Dinamo Bucharest with a good start including a lot of saves from Nacho Biosca. Nantes had the pace to dominate and Noam Leopold utilized both fast break action and gaps on the left wing. The gap created by half-time, 20–13 couldn’t be overturned and Nantes happily secured their fourth win in seven attempts.
Kiko Costa nearly matched Mathias Gidsel´s offensive impression and Sporting CP kept up with Füchse Berlin in a tight clash, 37–38. The guests had the final say with two Gidsel goals right after Lasse Andersson was sent off with a direct red card. Sporting made huge progress pushing the group leader all the way, while Berlin is half-way in the preliminary round with only winning performances so far.
– It was absolute great promotion for our sport. So much quality during the whole game. We are very proud to take the two points here in an amazing atmosphere, said Berlin´s head coach Nicolej Krickau to eurohandball.com.
Wisla Plock applied a lot of different tactics in the second half, though none of them were enough to follow Barca on the finishing straight. After nine goals by Aleix Gomez Abello and solid goalkeeping from Viktor Hallgrimsson and Emil Nielsen plus the best defense of the game night Barca could sum up 30–24 on home ground. The Spanish stars are two points behind SC Magdeburg but four points ahead of the defeated opponent Wisla Plock meaning top two is a very likely outcome even after seven more rounds for Barca.
Champions League
Group A, Industria Kielce–Ålborg HB 32–32 (16–15)
HBC Nantes–Dinamo Bucharest 35–28 (20–13)
Sporting CP–Füchse Berlin 37–38 (20–19)
Group B, Barca–Wisla Plock 30–24 (12–12)