EHF European League features fiery clashes in round 2
The EHF European League Men continues with round 2 of the group matches on Tuesday. Highlights include a repeat of the EHF Cup 2013 final between Rhein-Neckar Löwen and HBC Nantes, while Kadetten Schaffhausen host Elverum Handball in a match between two teams that previously met several times in the EHF Champions League. In group G, Dinamo Bucuresti’s offensive firepower will be put to a test when the Romanian side visit Chambéry Savoie Mont-Blanc Handball.
Top 5 Matches
Group A: Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER) vs HBC Nantes (FRA)
Tuesday 24 October, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- both clubs won their round 1 game: Nantes defeated 2022 champions Benfica 37:28; Rhein-Neckar took the points in Kristianstad (26:20)
- including the qualification round, Rhein-Neckar’s Juri Knorr is the competition’s best scorer so far, with 20 goals in three games
- Rhein-Neckar and Nantes faced each other five times in European club competitions, with Löwen winning twice and two draws
- The teams played the EHF Cup final in 2013, when Rhein-Neckar Löwen won 26:24 and lifted their first European trophy
Group B: TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (GER) vs Górnik Zabrze (POL)
Tuesday 24 October, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Hannover and Zabrze are shared leaders of group B: Hannover defeated Kriens-Luzern away (31:23), while Zabrze won just as clear against Athens (30:21)
- Hannover’s Marius Steinhauser is the competition’s third best-scorer, with 18 scored
- the two teams have never faced each other in European competitions
- none of the teams won their weekend match: Hannover drew with Leipzig (25:25); Zabrze lost in Plock (26:22)
Górnik Zabrze got off to a good start in the group matches with a big win against Athens. They are a young, dynamic team with clear structures. We hope that we can delight our fans with a good performance.
Our main problem is the quality in attack; we need to improve our scoring efficiency and concentration. TSV are a team which easily find any weakness and are used to win.
Group E: Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) vs Elverum Handball (NOR)
Tuesday 24 October, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Kadetten had a tough loss in Flensburg last week (46:32), while Elverum had a big 37:25 win against Lovcen-Cetinje
- with 46 goals conceded, the defensive performance by Schaffhausen was the second-worst of round 1 of the group matches
- Schaffhausen and Elverum played each other four times in the EHF Champions League since 2015, and both teams won two times
- Schaffhausen lost the top clash of the Swiss league against fellow EHF European League contenders Pfadi Winterthur (30:29)
- Elverum enjoyed a tight win in the Norwegian league against Kristiansand, 27:26
It won't be easy to get up after the last two games that we lost. Nevertheless, it is our goal to wipe off the defeats and focus on the next game against Elverum. I believe it will be a very tough game. Hopefully our fans will support us and together with them we may succeed.
Group G: Chambéry Savoie Mont-Blanc Handball (FRA) vs Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU)
Tuesday 24 October, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Dinamo lead group G after scoring 52 goals in a guge win against Izvidac (52:24) in round 1
- Chambéry only went down in the final stages of their match at defending champions Füchse Berlin (24:22)
- the two teams never played against each other in European club competitions
- in their weekend games, Chambéry lost to Nantes in the French league (24:39) while Dinamo beat Sighisoara (29:25)
Our schedule looks like the Champions League, playing such big names within two weeks: we already played against Berlin and Nantes, on Tuesday we play against Bucharest, and on Sunday against Paris. We are all excited about playing all these matches.
We meet a team that played amazingly in Berlin last week... Chambéry are playing very well. They had some injured players at the beginning of the season, but now they have recovered. We expect a difficult game, because they have a lot of tools; they can defend 6-0 or 5-1, they can change the strategy at any time.
Group H: CSM Constanta (ROU) vs Sporting CP (POR)
Tuesday 24 October, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
- Sporting and Constanta started the group matches with a win last week
- Constanta took the points in Tatabánya (29:24); Sporting defeated Glogow (37:20)
- two Constanta players are in the top-10 goal scorers of the European League, including qualification: Mikalai Aliokhin and Valentino Ravnic, who scored 14 and 13 goals, respectively
- the two clubs never played against each other in European competitions
- last weekend, Constanta took the points in the Romanian league against Cluj (29:26) while Sporting remain leaders in the Portuguese league after taking the points against Vitoria (38:20).
Also watch out for…
- AEK Athens have three Croatian players and Kriens-Luzern have two in their roster, but only Zeljko Musa and Marin Sipic played together in Zagreb in the past
- HC Izvidac top scorer Ivano Pavlovic got an invitation for the Croatia national team for the first time in his career
- Górnik Zabrze organised a trip for their fans to support their team in Hannover, a first in the club’s European history
- Nexe remain leaders in the Croatian league, with seven wins in as many games
- Braga feature two players in the top 5 rankings of the competition: Vinicios Carvalho and Leonardo Abrahao
- Füchse have won all 12 matches of this season in three competitions by now and are the only Bundesliga club with a clean record
- Flensburg’s top signing and MVP of the European 2022/23 season, Simon Pytlick, is likely out for weeks with an ankle injury he sustained in a domestic league game against Erlangen
photo (c) 2023 Neacsu Mihai; Pete Lindström
