EHF Champions League: Matchday 9 results
Handball•
On Thursday, Paris Saint-Germain Handball lost to Plock at Coubertin (29-30). Find out how this affects the standings in light of the rest of the EHF Champions League Matchday 9 results.
The favourites generally held sway in Group B on Matchday 9, widening the gap between the leaders and their pursuers. On Wednesday, Magdeburg held their nerve despite the hostile atmosphere in Pelister (26-32), recording their ninth consecutive victory and taking a big step towards direct qualification for the quarter-finals. Szeged also put on a show against a Zagreb side still stuck on zero points (32-26), while Barcelona made no mistake against GOG (28-41).
Buoyed by another outstanding performance from Emil Nielsen (16 saves), the capital club's future opponent Barcelona are in fine form, keeping the pressure on leaders Magdeburg.
There were no changes in the Group B standings this week. However, in terms of points, the gap between the top four and the rest continued to widen. Thanks to their win over our Rouge te Bleus, Plock retained third place and now has a six-point lead over Paris and GOG, fifth and sixth respectively. Szeged, meanwhile, are four points ahead of Stefan Madsen's men, giving them a small cushion, while behind them, Pelister remain in contention with four points, two fewer than their closest rivals. Defeated for the ninth time in as many games, Zagreb seem to have already said goodbye to their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs.
The final European week of the year will kick off with a clash at the bottom of the table between Zagreb and Pelister. The Croatians must win if they are to keep their qualification hopes alive, while Pelister will be looking to get back to winning ways in an attempt to close the gap. Later in the evening, our Parisians will face Barcelona with the aim of pulling off a shock result at the Palau Blaugrana. On Thursday, Plock will take on GOG with the aim of consolidating third place and closing in on the qualifying places for the quarter-finals, while Szeged will have the difficult task of travelling to Magdeburg to conclude the ninth matchday.
