Race to EHF European Cup Men final to reach crunch time

The action starts on Friday, when MOL Tatabanya KC and HC Izvidac battle at 17:00 CEST in Hungary. On Saturday, GRK Ohrid and RK Celje Pivovarna Laško meet at 19:00 CEST in North Macedonia.

SEMI-FINALS, SECOND LEG

MOL Tatabanya KC (HUN) vs HC Izvidac (BIH)

Friday 1 May, 17:00 CEST
First leg result: 31:33

• each team enjoyed various scoring runs in the first leg, which nearly evened out the result
• in crunch time, HC Izvidac were a bit more convincing and made MOL Tatabanya KC pay for their technical faults
• HC Izvidac have reached the semi-finals for a second consecutive season and desperately want to take the last step into the final this time around
• Fahrudin Melic and Diano Ćeško combined for 18 of Izvidac’s 33 goals in the previous encounter
• 13 of Tatabanya’s 14 field players contributed at least one goal in the first leg
• the winner of this encounter will write history, as neither country has been represented by a team in the final of this competition

GRK Ohrid (MKD) vs RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO)

Saturday 2 May, 19:00 CEST
First leg result: 26:27

• despite leading by six goals after nine minutes, GRK Ohrid saw themselves trailing by four goals at half-time in the first leg
• the Macedonian side crawled back in the middle of the second half to lose by just one goal in Slovenia (26:27)
• the first-leg game was GRK Ohrid’s first defeat of the season in this competition
• Celje’s Aljuš Anžic was the top scorer of the encounter with eight goals and added four assists
• Celje could reach their first European final since winning the EHF Champions League in the 2003/04 season

Youth prevailed over experience in both first-leg games

Both semi-finals feature clashes between a young team and a more experienced side. HC Izvidac (average age of 23.2 years) and RK Celje (average age of 22 years) enter their second-leg encounters slightly ahead of their opponents. However, both teams enjoyed home advantages last weekend.

Can the more experienced squads of Tatabanya (average age of 27.1 years) and Ohrid (average age of 29 years) keep their cool and mount comebacks on their home courts over the weekend? It will be fascinating to watch, for sure.

Photos © HC Izvidac (main) & GRK Ohrid (in-text)