Historic night for Eurofarm Pelister, Barça give first point from their hands

• goalkeeper Nikola Mitrevski, strong defence and the bigger will to win in the last minutes were crucial for Eurofarm Pelister
• due to Bitola’s victorious night at Denmark, all 16 group phase participants now have at least one victory on their tally
• at the fifth attempt, Dinamo Bucuresti managed to take their first ever win against Füchse Berlin, passing Sporting CP to rank third in group A
• Dinamo’s team performance in attack was incredible, while Berlin lacked strength in defence and goalkeeping after the break
• Ivan Pesic secured the draw for Nantes against Barça with a last-second save against Aitor Ariño
• Nantes were ahead only once in the whole match, 75 seconds before the end

GROUP A

Fredericia Håndbold Klub (DEN) vs HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) 23:25 (12:9)

The euphoria and confidence at Fredericia were huge after their first ever victory in the EHF Champions League - the 28:25 against Plock last week. Danes were also hoping to prolong the streak Thursday night, as Eurofarm Pelister had not won any of their last 24 matches in the competition (23 defeats, one draw). The first half looked pretty good for Gudmundur Gudmundsson's team. The defense was stable, and in attack, the Danish runners-up waited patiently for their chances. The margin could have been even bigger than 12:9, but already then Eurofarm Pelister’s goalkeeper Nikola Mitrevski was outstanding. However, everything changed in the second half, though Bitola’s top scorer Filip Kuzmanovski missed many chances. After only four minutes, the result was levelled at 13:13, and then CL winner from 2014 Bogdan Radivojevic had his strongest period, steering his side to a 19:16 advantage in minute 45, as Fredericia only managed to score four goals in 15 minutes against Mitrevski. A red card for Radivojevic weakened the Macedonian champions, opening an opportunity for Fredericia to get back into this one again. With four minutes left, the score was 21:22 – but finally a double strike from Zarko Peshevski and Nejc Cehte sealed the deal for the Macedonians.

Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs Füchse Berlin (GER) 38:31 (18:19)

In the first 30 minutes the lead changed seven times, underlining that the match of the two participants of the EHF Finals 2024 was going back and forth. While Berlin’s star Mathias Gidsel scored seven from seven before the break, Dinamo’s Israeli Yoav Lumbroso was highly efficient in attack. But in general, it was a brilliant team performance of the hosts, as 13 of 14 court players were on the scorer list, while Berlin mostly relied on their Danes. As Gidsel lost his shooting power after the break, failing to score a single goal, Lasse Andersson stepped in and finished with eight goals. A key fact for Dinamo’s constant lead in the second half was the weak goalkeeper performance from the guests. Dejan Milosavljev was far from his best days, and Bucuresti players were scoring from all positions, including a cold-as-ice Branko Vujovic from the penalty line. On the other side, Ionut Iancu saved some important shots in situations when Berlin could have bridged the gap. After the 31:30, the hosts decided the match with a 7:1 run. After their fourth defeat, Füchse remain in fifth position, but the gap to fourth is already three points, while Dinamo made an important step towards the knockout stage with their fifth victory.

GROUP B

HBC Nantes (FRA) vs Barça (ESP) 31:31 (14:17)

Barça finished the “first half” of the group phase unbeaten, but a victory slipped from their hands against the bravely fighting hosts. Still, they are four points ahead of Nantes, and six away from Szeged. Nantes extended their series to four unbeaten matches in a row, taking seven of eight points. They became the first team to snatch a point from the defending champions since the last round of the 2023/24 group phase, when Montpellier beat the future champions.  

From minute 10 (6:6) to minute 56 (30:30), Barça were constantly ahead, the gap was at least three goals, with three peaks of five goals, latest at 22:17. But this result was Nantes’ wake-up call - first netting an unanswered run of four goals, then levelling the result again at 30:30, followed by their first ever lead in the match, the 31:30 with only 75 seconds left on the clock. After Julien Bos received a two-minutes suspension, Blaz Janc levelled the result seven seconds before the end, followed by Nantes’ final time-out. As Rok Ovnicek caused a technical mistake, he also was suspended for two minutes – and Barça were again in ball possession. With six against four, Aitor Ariño had the last chance, but Ivan Pesic saved it and secured the point for the hosts.