Facts & figures for MOTW between Wisla Plock and GOG
Following last week’s contest which took place in Zagreb, all eyes will be on Plock in round 2 as the Polish team hosts fellow 2022/23 Machineseeker EHF Champions League quarterfinalists GOG in group B action at 18:45 on Wednesday, live on EHFTV.
Here is your chance to find out all the facts & figures of the two teams ahead of this crucial match.
- Both sides were part of the 2022/23 quarterfinals of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. GOG were eliminated by Barça after beating Aalborg in the play-offs, Plock by eventual winners Magdeburg after beating Nantes in the play-offs (by penalty shoot-out)
- Surprisingly after the 38:36 victory in the first round of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League against Celje, GOG and head coach Ian Marko Fog, who had just become successor of Nicolej Krickau, went their separate ways. The new head coach is Fog’s former assistant Mikkel Voigt.
- GOG’s start against Celje was like a roller-coaster ride with many lead changes, but finally Lukas Persson and Morten Olsen secured the two points with their late goals
- Plock lost the opening thriller at Porto 23:24, despite a strong performance of new goalkeeper Mirko Aliliovic and eight goals from Przemyslaw Krajewski
- In the previous six duels of both sides (all in the last four seasons), the home team was always the victor
- Plock are the experts for close thrillers – in the last six Champions League matches, the biggest gap was two goals
- GOG lost several top stars such as EHF Excellence Award winner 2022/23 Simon Pytlick and world champion Lukas Jörgensen; in addition, coach Krickau joined SG Flensburg-Handewitt
- In 2024, Emil Madsen – top scorer of the 2022/23 Champions League season – will move southwards to join THW Kiel
- Plock bolstered their squad with two experienced players, goalkeeper Mirko Alilovic (from Szeged) and centre back Miha Zarabec (from Kiel)
- Below Nikola Karabatic, who currently plays his 22nd EHF Champions League season, Alilovic is second ranked with now 21 seasons in the top flight competition
- Both sides were 2022/23 cup winners in their countries; in addition, GOG became Danish champions, while Plock were again extremely close behind Polish champions Kielce
- Plock only won seven of 24 European Cup duels against Danish clubs, their biggest ever Champions League defeat being a 18:35 loss against Kolding in 2006
- On the other hand, GOG’s only defeats against Polish teams were those three against Plock
- GOG play their tenth anniversary season in the Champions League, Plock are participating for the 16th time
- The Danish champions count on an All-Scandinavian squad, composed only with players from Denmark and Sweden, while ten nations are represented in Plock’s team list (Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Spain, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia and Slovenia)
- GOG wing Frederik Emil Pedersen is the smallest player of the current Champions League season with 1.65 metres, ten centimetres smaller than Gustavo Arce, Plock’s smallest player
- GOG tied their last match in the Danish league against Holstebro (36:36), while Plock easily beat Wielkopolksi Ostrow 31:23
