13 tickets left for the last 16

The second weekend of round 3 will start on Friday, 29 November, as HC Alkaloid and Handball WEST WIEN meet for their first leg in a double-header in North Macedonia. The return leg will be played on Saturday. Three duels will be decided in double-headers in the next few days.

• Icelandic side Haukar travel to Azerbaijan to face Kur in a double-header on Saturday and Sunday; the visitors have high hopes for their goalkeeper Aron Rafn Edvardsson to repeat his round 2 performance, as he not only saved 22 shots but also scored four goals in two games; Ognjen Lekovic scored 17 goals in the host’s second round matches last month
• AEK Athens and HC Lovcen-Cetinje meet in the battle of last season’s EHF European League sides; both teams finished fourth in their respective groups, missing out on a main round berth; it’s the third double-header of the weekend and they meet on Saturday and Sunday in Greece
• two duels enter the return leg with one goal between the teams; Förthof UHK Krems travel to Serbia to meet RK Partizan AdmiralBet after winning 25:24 last week; HC Motor kept cool in the last minutes of the first leg against HC Izvidac to take a 33:32 advantage to Bosnia and Herzegovina
• a close call will be the match between MRK Krka and RK Porec on Saturday; the teams meet in Slovenia after Krka took a 23:21 away win in the first leg; Porec have to be more efficient in the offence and hope for a better day for their goalkeepers compared to last week
• Mistra lost their first leg against RK Jeruzalem Ormoz 34:30, despite their back court duo Andris Celminš and Arno Vare combining for 19 goals; little things decided an evenly matched encounter, with the Ormoz-based side collecting two more steals and scoring five unanswered goals between the 30th and 34th minute; it will be interesting how the second leg evolves

Can Besiktas turn things around at home?

Despite adding well-known names from previous seasons in European club competitions, like Matej Ašanin and Eduardo Gurbindo, Besiktas struggled in their first leg against Pölva Serviti. The Estonian side held their visitors to 24 goals, with goalkeeper Eston Varusk saving 16 shots. In the return leg in Türkiye on Saturday, the efficiency as well as limiting turnovers (11 last week) have to improve for Cedric Sorhaindo’s club to go through to the last 16. However, form is not really on their side at the moment, having won only one out of their last four competitive matches.

Photos © Barbora Talacova (main) and Pölva Serviti (in-text)