Veszprem secure the top spot, unbelievable night in Zagreb

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Three SEHA GAZPROM South Stream League’s participants have managed to secure Last 16 spots in VELUX EHF Champions League.

Hungarian Veszprem have managed to maintain their fantastic level beating Slovenian Celje Pivovarna Laško with 29:26 securing first place in group C. Momir Ilić and Renato Sulić have scored 5 goals each for Hungarians.

Macedonian vice-champions Vardar are a step closer to achieveing their big goal of reaching second place in group C after managing to beat French Montpellier 30:26. Remarkable Timur Dibirov was once again usntoppable with 12 goals. This win puts Macedonians a point ahead of RN Löwen which will host them in their direct encounter in a week in Mannheim.

‘’Hit of the week" in Champions League was a winning goal by PPD Zagreb’s left back Duško Čelica in their decisive clash against Naturhouse La Rioja. Bosnian gunner scored winning goal for Zagreb with no time left on the clock from an 18-meter free throw over Spanish block. With this amazing goal Croatian champions have after two years now managed to reach CL’s Last 16 once again. Captain Zlatko Horvat and Josip Valčić were Zagreb’s best scorers with 6 goals each.

Meshkov were not able to surprise PSG in France losing 36:25 which puts them in a tough position ahead of last round’s match against THW Kiel in Germany. David Špiler was best individual in Belarus team scoring 7 goals. In order for Meshkov to go through to Last 16 they have to beat Kiel and Germany and wait for PSG to beat Naturhouse La Rioja in Spain which are now one point ahead of Babić’ team.

Macedonian champions Metalurg have set a negative record scoring scoring only 3 goals in the second half of the clash against Kiel. German ‘Zebras’ were in the end better with 35:16 which was not so unexpected considering Metalurg’s current financial problems. Croatian newcomer Marko Buvinić and Filip Talevski have netted four goals each.

On the other hand, most impressive result in EHF Cup’s round 1 was Croatian vice-champions NEXE beating favorized hosts  - Hungarian Balatonfuredi KSE with 31:19 in Veszprem Arena. NEXE’s goalie Perica Lelić was outstanding between posts while Božić-Pavletić and Can Celebi have scored five goals each.

Serbian champions Vojvodina Novi Sad have in a tight battle lost the match against Danish Skjern. In an impresive atmosphere in Slana Bara hall and with more than 2,000 spectators behind them, Ćirković’s players were defeated with 23:25. Uroš Elezović was Vojvodina’s best player with eight goals.  

Unfortunately SEHA GSS League has lost its last competitor in EHF’s Challenge Cup with Radnički from Kragujevac losing the first match in Scandinavia against Norwegian Stord with 32:23(-9)  and managing to beat them with only +5 (27:22) in their second encounter.