French sides bounce back with trio of victories

22:53

A night full of interesting results in the European League!

• Pfadi Winterthur and Grundfos Tatabanya get themselves a rare victory to kickstart their group phase
• Benfica and Berlin survive tricky away tests to maintain perfect winning records
• Magdeburg fail to win for the first time in 17 games this season
• Sävehof punish PAUC, before the French sides bounce back with three victories, including Nantes controlled performance against GOG

We'll leave it there for tonight, see you next Tuesday for more of the same. Goodnight!

22:23

Berlin turn up the heat in the final 10 minutes to grab control of the contest and beat Plock by four in the end. 

Here are tonight's results and a good end to the night for the French clubs, who as a whole have struggled to make an impact in the group phase so far.

Orlen Wisla Plock 24:28 Füchse Berlin
BM Logroño La Rioja 29:29 SC Magdeburg
Bidasoa Irun 24:26 Fenix Toulouse Handball
HBC Nantes 27:24 GOG
USAM Nimes Gard 33:27 Sporting CP

22:19

Drama until the very end of La Rioja vs Magdeburg. The Spanish side take an unlikely lead but cannot extend it past a single goal and Magdeburg keep coming back at them.
With 30 seconds remaining, La Rioja have a chance to snatch the winning goal but Magdeburg's defence and Green in goal have other ideas. After the initial disappointment, La Rioja begin to celebrate a point earned, bringing an end to Magdeburg's perfect winning season - 29:29.

Meanwhile, Nantes wrap up a 27:24 win over GOG in a much-improved performance from them - truly marking their arrival in this group phase.

22:10

The hits are getting heavier and the tension rises in Plock. Füchse still lead by a single goal with 8 minutes left on the clock.

22:03

A brilliant shooting performance from Agustín Casado are keeping La Rioja within reach against Magdeburg - 23:22 to the defending champions with seven minutes remaining!

Another German powerhouse, Berlin, lead Plock by a single goal with 12 minutes left to play.

21:55

Nimes vs Sporting continues to deliver a tense and tight affair. 26:24 to the French side with the ever-reliable Mohamed Sanad leading the way on the right wing with six goals.

21:46

Abel Serdio is the man of the moment for Plock so far. 5 goals from the Spaniard has helped them to a 16:15 lead over Berlin early in the second half.

21:43

Bergerud has had some moments of magic like this but is currently second best to Emil Nielsen and Nantes now lead 16:11 after 8 minutes of the second half.

21:35

Nantes have done a brilliant job of countering the most prolific attack in the competition, restricting GOG to just eight goals in the first half from 22 shots. 4 goals from Jerry Tollbring and 3 from Mathias Gidsel suggest they need a lot more support from their teammates in the second half. Will it come?

21:31

A gorgeous goal here from Tom Poyet, who is one of four Nimes players on three goals in an impressive first-half team performance.

21:25

It's half-time across Europe in our late matches and we have a bunch of fairly close games, only three goals the largest lead - held by Magdeburg and Nantes.

Orlen Wisla Plock 14:15 Füchse Berlin
BM Logroño La Rioja 13:16 SC Magdeburg
Bidasoa Irun 11:13 Fenix Toulouse Handball
HBC Nantes 11:8 GOG
USAM Nimes Gard 17:15 Sporting CP

21:18

BM Logroño La Rioja are doing their level best to stay in touch with the currently unbeatable SC Magdeburg, trailing 12:10. The worry for the Spanish side, however, is that Magdeburg tend to have left their best for the second half in their group games so far.

21:13

Nimes vs Sporting is shaping up to be a really fun match as well. 12:12 after 23 minutes between two teams with big hopes for this season.

21:07

Some fantastic goalkeeping going down in Nantes!

HBC's Emil Nielsen and GOG's Torbjorn Bergerud have made only three saves each but they were top notch. 7:7 after 22 minutes.

21:01

Füchse's social media folk are pretty happy with their youthful-looking team today. They have an average age of 25 and coach Jaron Siewert doesn't hurt that average much either. So far, they are holding their own in Plock, trailing 7:6 at the quarter-hour mark.

20:51

Another fascinating clash is last season's quarter-finalists GOG away to EHF FINAL4 participants HBC Nantes. Nantes keeper Mikael Robin makes a big penalty save against Jerry Tollbring but the Danish side have an early 3:2 lead.

20:40

A couple of big clashes on the way in just a few minutes, most notably the meeting of two teams which reached the EHF Finals last season - Plock and Berlin!

20:30

AEK and Nexe lost their perfect starts to the group, only Benfica have moved on to six points but that could all change in the next couple of hours with our 20:45 throw-offs.

Here is what we have coming up:

Orlen Wisla Plock vs Füchse Berlin
BM Logroño La Rioja vs SC Magdeburg
Bidasoa Irun vs Fenix Toulouse Handball
HBC Nantes vs GOG
USAM Nimes Gard vs Sporting CP

20:27

Huge credit goes to Pfadi Winterthur for their comeback win tonight, one of three second-half comebacks from away teams. That is the Swiss side's first win in a European group phase in six years - that one came against Halden in the old EHF Cup - and it puts them in contention for a top-four finish in group A.

20:19

Our first seven matches of the evening are over and here is how they finished.

TATRAN Presov 29:33 Pfadi Winterthur
PAUC Handball 25:30 IK Sävehof
Grundfos Tatabanya KC 31:23 Kadetten Schaffhausen
RK Gorenje Velenje 34:28 RK Nexe
Cocks 32:37 SL Benfica
AEK Athens HC 27:30 HC Eurofarm Pelister
Chekhovskie medvedi 28:30 TBV Lemgo Lippe

20:13

Sävehof dominated from the first whistle to the last and claim a comfortable 30:25 victory, bringing them up to four points in group C, while PAUC must wait for their first points.

20:12

Benfica complete their comeback win over Cocks and made it look fairly easy on the scoreboard, 37:32, but it was far from easy in reality. 11 players on the scoreboard for the Potuguese side, led by a perfect shooting performance of 12/12 by Petar Djordjic.

20:05

Big moment for Lemgo as Bjarki Elisson, top scorer with 9, makes an important steal, setting up a goal to give them a 27:25 lead over Chekhov. A big six minutes left to play in Russia.

20:02

We haven't heard much from Pfadi Winterthur so far in this group phase but they are making a splash in the second half against Tatran Presov. It is a 5-goal turnaround and they now lead 24:23 with 10 minutes remaining.

19:58

Shooting from the hip but getting whipped on the scoreboard. Not a good day for the French side, who have been outclassed by Sävehof tonight - currently 30:20 after 50 minutes.

19:52

Benfica have come out flying in the second half and now hold a 28:25 lead over Cocks - led by nine goals from Petar Djordjic.

19:40

A couple of the bigger names who trailed at half-time, Benfica and Lemgo, have gone out hard at the beginning of the second half. Benfica have already drawn level with Cocks, while Chekhov have responded and maintain a one-goal lead.

19:31

Despite that save, Tatabanya are in control so far and are looking good to pick up their first win. Just before the game, they announced that a new coach will be taking over in the summer of 2022: Csaba Zombor - a former Hungarian international.

19:24

We have hit half-time and here is a look at the scores.

TATRAN Presov 16:12 Pfadi Winterthur
PAUC Handball 10:16 IK Sävehof
Grundfos Tatabanya KC 15:11 Kadetten Schaffhausen
RK Gorenje Velenje 19:14 RK Nexe
Cocks 18:15 SL Benfica
AEK Athens HC 13:16 HC Eurofarm Pelister
Chekhovskie medvedi 15:13 TBV Lemgo Lippe

Among the most surprising scores so far are Cocks' three-goal lead over Benfica, Velenje up by five against Next and Sävehof six up away to PAUC - with goalkeeper Bertram Obling making a phenomenal 12 saves so far!

19:15

Look at this for a bit of quick thinking by Cocks' Basaric! That's how they started the game against Benfica and they have kept up the good work with Basaric scoring 6 and the Finnish side lead 15:14 after 27 minutes.

19:12

Aleksandr Ermakov's 5 goals has inspired Chekhovskie Medvedi to an early 12:9 lead over Lemgo. Lemgo looked so good in their away win over Nantes in the previous round but are not quite settling into their rhythm in Russia.

19:04

A fascinating battle is emerging in Slovenia as Velenje narrowly lead Nexe 10:9 after 16 minutes. Meanwhile, a quick shout out to Cocks, who currently lead Benfica 12:10 after struggling to make a mark so far this season - let's see how that one unfolds.

18:55

PAUC haven't had the best of luck in the group phase so far and it doesn't appear to be changing just yet - IK Sävehof's keeper Bertram Obling has made six saves in the opening 10 minutes and his teammates are punishing the opposition on the break - 6:2 to the young Swedish side.

18:50

AEK Athens HC vs HC Eurofarm Pelister has begun at a frenetic pace with the Macedonian club racing into an early 6:3 lead. AEK have impressed so far in this campaign but have their work cut out for them this evening.

18:41

We are just moments away from throw-off in seven matches and I feel the clash between Velenje and Nexe will be particularly interesting, given both sides' experience at this level and Nexe's bright start to the campaign. We will keep an eye on this and the rest of the games to see which emerge as the ones to watch as the evening progresses.

18:29

The European League is never short of some excellent goals in every game and the video below proves my point.

And if it's goals we want in the early games, group C may be the place to be as the second and third highest scorers of the first two rounds, Sävehof and Nexe, are in action.

18:16

One of the true highlights of the night will be Plock vs Berlin, a match between the fourth and second place finishers in last season's competition. One of the summer signings for Plock, Sergei Kosorotov, had a brilliant campaign for Chekhov last season and could be a defining factor tonight.

17:59

Hello everyone and welcome to another jam-packed evening of European League fun!

It is round 3 of the group phase and all 24 teams are in action over the course of this evening, with 7 of the 12 matches throwing off in just over 45 minutes.

Here is what we have coming up for you

18:45 CET
TATRAN Presov vs Pfadi Winterthur
PAUC Handball vs IK Sävehof
Grundfos Tatabanya KC vs Kadetten Schaffhausen
RK Gorenje Velenje vs RK Nexe
Cocks vs SL Benfica
AEK Athens HC vs HC Eurofarm Pelister
Chekhovskie medvedi vs TBV Lemgo Lippe

20:45 CET
Orlen Wisla Plock vs Füchse Berlin
BM Logroño La Rioja vs SC Magdeburg
Bidasoa Irun vs Fenix Toulouse Handball
HBC Nantes vs GOG
USAM Nimes Gard vs Sporting CP