AEK Athens and HC Alkaloid use home advantage

AEK Athens HC made good use of their home advantage on Saturday, beating HC Izvidac 37:28 in Greece. On Sunday, HC Alkaloid followed suit, beating Runar Sandefjord in an intense first leg in North Macedonia by 42:37.

• AEK Athens HC enjoy a comfortable nine-goal lead going into the second leg in Bosnia and Herzegovina next Saturday
• the key factor in Athens’ success was an outstanding first-half performance offensively; the Greek side hit 87 per cent of their shots on target, scoring 20 goals from 23 shots
• Adama Keita was nearly unstoppable from the wing, contributing seven goals from eight shots
• the goalkeepers on both sides delivered very good performances; Yann Genty saved 14 shots (33 per cent), HC Izvidac’s Haris Suljevic even topped this by saving 15 shots (33 per cent)

HC Alkaloid beat Runar Sandefjord in offensive festival

HC Akaloid and Runar Sandefjord delivered an impressive attacking showing in the first leg of their semi-finals match-up, as may have been expected: the two teams have averaged 36.8 and 33.2 goals per game, respectively, this season.

After 30 minutes of Sunday’s match, 41 goals had already been scored. Both teams were neck and neck until the 48th minute, with the Skopje-based side coming out on top (42:37) after 60 minutes. Christoffer Rambo (11 goals for Runar) and Martin Serafimov (10 strikes for Alkaloid) were the top scorers, while the goalkeeping efficiencies for both sides were below 20 per cent.

Photos © Filip Viranovski, Eurokinissi Sports