GROUP B
Pick Szeged (HUN) vs Barça (ESP) 28:35 (15:14)
- Szeged shocked the defending champions with a 6:0 run from 4:5 to 10:5 - in this period, the defence and goalkeeper Mirko Allilovic showed an outstanding performance
- but thanks to their “French connection”, Barça struck back with the half-time score being 15:14, as Dika Mem (four), Timothy N’Guessan (three), Ludovic Fabregas and Melvyn Richardson (one each) combined for nine of 14 goals
- and this was only the beginning of Szeged’s lesson: the 21:20 lead in minute 39 was Barça’s first, and then the hosts’ resistance was broken within 10 minutes, as the defending champions pulled ahead to 31:23
- Szeged only scored 13 goals after the break, while the defending champions simply overran the hosts, being ahead several times by a nine-goal margin
- Pick’s best scorer was Richard Bodó with five goals
French quartet in brilliant form
In the previous EHF Champions League season, Barça’s Dika Mem was the second-best overall scorer, only topped by his teammate Aleix Gómez; now the French right back is already on fire again.
Netting seven goals at Szeged he was equal with another French star, line player Ludovic Fabregas, who just started his farewell season before he joins Veszprém in 2023.
And to make it a perfect day for the “French connection”, Melvyn Richardson scored six times and Timothy N’Guessan added three goals to an overall total of 23 French strikes for Barça in Szeged, accounting for 66 per cent of all goals.
