EHF Champions League

French sides' winning streaks in danger

Björn Pazen & Kevin Domas

06 December 2022, 10:00

After taking the lead in group A last week, Paris Saint-Germain will be put to a test when travelling to Porto, as the Portuguese scored their first point of the campaign in the previous round. Two games that were decided by last-minute goals in round 6 will feature in round 9: Magdeburg vs GOG and Dinamo vs Zagreb. Plock, on the other hand, will not be favourites at throw-off against Veszprém, after losing their last three games.

The penultimate Match of the Week of 2022 on Wednesday features two teams from group B, when OTP Bank - Pick Szeged host Lomza Industria Kielce. Defending champions Barça face Aalborg in the re-match of the 2021 final, while the two bottom-ranked clubs Celje and Elverum lock horns in Slovenia. HBC Nantes hope to extend their winning run at a Kiel side struggling to find consistency.

It is going to be a tough match. Plock is a good team. Unfortunately for them, they had some injuries, but they still have a lot of quality. We had some problems there at the beginning of the second half.

They will come here motivated, and they will try to steal some points. We do not want to allow this for them.

Rasmus Lauge

Veszprém left back

Playing against Szeged is always an uncomfortable task. Not only for us but for every team. Pick had some problems at the beginning of the season. But now this is passed, they won three of the four last games, losing only in Kielce. The public knows that Juan Carlos Pastor is leaving the club after the season, maybe after the announcement the chemistry inside the team is better, who knows?

Moreover, Bence Banhidi’s return after a long injury gives Szeged new possibilities in the positional attack. This is good news for playmakers because such a machine is at their disposal.

Both teams have their own goals. We are expecting a difficult game. But we want to go to Hungary to play good handball and come back with two points.

Talant Dujshebaev

Kielce coach

RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO) vs Elverum Handball (NOR)
Wednesday 7 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

both sides sit bottom of the group with two points each
Elverum’s only victory was the 31:29 in the first encounter between these sides - their first win in the Champions League after almost one year
Celje had beaten Kiel in the second round and then were defeated six consecutive times
with 224 (Elverum) and 238 goals (Celje), both sides have the weakest attacks in group B
Celje’s Aleks Vlah is currently the second-best scorer on 54 goals, while Uros Borzas is Elverum’s best scorer with 37 goals, ranked 20th in the overall scorer list

THW Kiel (GER) vs HBC Nantes (FRA)
Thursday 8 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

Kiel have not won any of their last five group matches, tied twice and lost three times
Nantes have won six of their last seven matches, losing only to Barça, and had won the first duel against Kiel 38:30 on home ground
in their last two matches, Nantes beat Aalborg twice, though they had to replace their previous top scorer Aymeric Minne
Kiel left wing Rune Dahmke: "If you have followed Nantes in the group phase, you see that they were extremely strong, not only against us. They play consistently well, have a very, very good defence and easily score over 30 goals in every game. If we can mobilise all our forces together with our fans, I'm sure we have a very good chance to win the game. That has to be our ambition as well."
THW are unbeaten on home ground but tied in the last two home matches against Barça and Aalborg
Kiel’s both long-term injured players Hendrik Pekeler and Sander Sagosen are back on court

Barça (ESP) vs Aalborg Handbold (DEN)
Thursday 8 December, 20:45 CET, live on EHFTV

Barça are the only unbeaten side among the 16 group phase participants after a fortunate away draw and a home win against Kiel
Aalborg only took one point (at Kiel) from the last four group matches, including the 33:39 home defeat against Barça
Barça have won all ten previous duels against Aalborg, highlighted by the biggest win in any EHF FINAL4 final, beating the Danish side 36:23 in 2021
former Barça player Mikkel Hansen is the third-best scorer with 50 goals, Barça’s Dika Mem is ninth-ranked with 45 strikes
in the Danish league, Aalborg ended their downswing with a 36:29 win at Lemvik on Sunday to rank second below defending champions GOG, while Barça extended their series of victories to 14, winning 43:19 against Sinfin

We know Aalborg very well. They play very good in offence and we are playing good in defence. Against Kiel we had more turnovers than usual and we have to reduce our mistakes. Playing at home, in front of our fans, we have to win this game.

Timothey N'guessan

Left back, Barça