In the return leg of the clash between two title contenders, Veszprém once again defeated Mathias Gidsel’s Füchse Berlin (39-35), despite Gidsel's scoring nine goals. Thanks to these two victories over the Germans, the Hungarian side will start the main round with four points, while the Foxes are set to start with zero – and will therefore be under pressure from the very first matchday.
For their part, Paris can still go into the next phase of this continental campaign with three points. To do so, they will need to beat Aalborg at Coubertin next Wednesday. Should they lose, Stefan Madsen’s men will start with one point, whilst another draw would see both sides enter the main round with two points.
In Group B, the sixth and final matchday will be decisive, as the three teams still in contention are all locked on six points. Defeated at home by Vardar (27-33), Nantes missed the chance to take another step towards qualification. Worse still, following Melsungen’s victory over Plock (28-26), The H have slipped to third place in the standings and are virtually out of the running.
Nantes must secure a result in Plock next week if they are to have any hope of qualifying, whilst Melsungen will travel to face a Vardar side with nothing left to play for other than the honour of treating their supporters to a first home win – before sliding down to the EHF European League.
Having already put in a commanding ten-goal performance in the 33-33 draw at Aalborg on Matchday 1, Ferran Solé managed to repeat the feat in Zagreb on Wednesday! Scoring ten goals from 11 attempts, the Spanish international led the way for the Parisians for much of the match, hitting the 300-goal mark in his Champions League career.
Following Veszprém’s latest victory this week, the final matchday in Group A is now a dead rubber. The Hungarians, guaranteed to finish top and progress to the main round with four points, will travel to Porto. Meanwhile, Füchse Berlin will host Raul Gonzalez’s Partizan Belgrade. As mentioned above, Group B will be decided, and each of the top three teams – Nantes in Plock or Melsungen in North Macedonia against Vardar – will have to give their all to secure qualification for the main round.
Finally, in Group C, Les Rouge et Bleu will be looking to beat Aalborg in order to start the main round with three points, which would give them a clear advantage over the Scandinavians, but also over other teams such as Füchse Berlin, who will begin this new phase of the Champions League on zero points.
