EHF Champions League

Davis faces former club, Elverum out to surprise PSG

29 March 2022, 13:00

Eight play-off matches will decide the four open spots in the quarter-finals of the EHF Champions League Men. As Aalborg, Kielce, Kiel and Barca have directly qualified for the next round, two Hungarian and two French sides appear to be favourites to proceed but face tricky tests in the play-offs.

Having been eliminated several times in previous years by Kiel, Szeged hope to beat their local rivals Flensburg-Handewitt, Veszprém face their former coach David Davis with Vardar in a repeat of the final in 2019.

Paris are favourites in their MOTW confrontation against Elverum but without Mikkel Hansen, the French side will have to negotiate the first leg in Norway and avoid a potential upset. The contests pitting Flensburg vs Szeged and Porto vs Montpellier look way more complex and the first leg encounters will be vital.

PLAY-OFFS, FIRST LEG

Elverum Handball (NOR) vs Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA)
Wednesday 30 March, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV

Elverum qualified for the play-offs after finishing sixth in group A, while Paris finished third in group B
the two sides played against each other four times in the last two seasons, Paris won all confrontations
with 449 goals conceded, Elverum were the second least efficient defence of all group phase sides
Paris had the second most efficient attack of the group phase, having scored 452 goals
Paris announced last week that Mikkel Hansen suffered post-surgery complications and would be out until the end of the season
on the other hand, left back Elohim Prandi made his comeback last weekend in the game against Nancy, which Paris won 37:32, and is now fit to play

SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs Pick Szeged (HUN)
Wednesday 30 March, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV

Szeged qualified for the play-offs by finishing third of group A while Flensburg earned their spot by finishing sixth in group B
Flensburg and Szeged faced each other eight times in the EHF Champions League since 2011. The German side took six confrontations, while Szeged won one and one ended on a draw
both teams’ best scorers netted 61 times this season: Bence Banhidi for Szeged and Hampus Wanne for Flensburg
Szeged took three points out of four against the other German club in the Champions League this season, THW Kiel
last weekend, Flensburg won 32:26 at Melsungen in the Bundesliga while Szeged took the points against Veszprémi KKFT in the Hungarian league (42:23)

Szeged is a really strong opponent, so it will be a tough play-off game for us. They play very physically and with Dean Bombac they have a great centre back, so we have to provide a compact defence. Szeged is tactically very clever and relies on a very good coach. We are looking forward to a great game and hopefully a great atmosphere in the FLENS-ARENA.

Maik Machulla

Flensburg coach

It is going to be a very tough game because Vardar play much better since Davis arrived and the atmosphere is always special in Skopje. We are going to prepare as much as we can so that we’re ready for the game, I hope we can win the first game too.

Petar Nenadic

Veszprém centre back

There are no weak teams in the Champions League. so if we are playing the play-off to access to quarter-finals we have to expect the greatest games. We will fight and do our best to continue in this competition. Montpellier is a great team but FC Porto also, they have their weapons and so do we. We are excited to play this game.

Magnus Andersson

Porto coach