Magdeburg take MOTW in Porto, Plock shock Veszprém

Magdeburg take MOTW in Porto, Plock shock Veszprém

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EHF / Kevin Domas

The Machineseeker EHF Champions League is officially over for 2023, even though we will still see plenty of it in February, as four rounds are still left to play in the group phase.

On Thursday, EHF Champions League waved 2023 farewell in style, with five exciting matches on the schedule. No other team than Barça has managed to secure its presence in the play-offs so far, however, we now know for sure that Eurofarm Pelister will not make it past the group phase, as the team from North Macedonia suffered its tenth defeat of the season falling short against Zagreb (22:23). In the other group A game, Paris made a huge comeback to take their second win of the season against Aalborg - this time in Denmark (32:30).

In group B, Barça remain firmly ahead in the standings after beating Celje (39:30), while the sensation came from Plock, with the Polish side defeating Veszprém, partly thanks to a stunning first half (37:30).

SC Magdeburg secured points in the last Match of the Week of 2023, in what was the eighth straight European win for the titleholders. With Janus Smarason being elected Player of the Match, SCM finished the year in style (40:31).

Kuzmanovski
I am very sorry that we simply weren’t able to deliver the best possible resistance. I’ve been here for three weeks now, and we have a young team with some experienced names in it as well. We’ve got a lot of potential as a team, and it’s important for us to stay together. We’ve watched a lot of video during the preparations for this one, however we’ve got to admit that Zagreb has a really good team that’s already managed to defeat some really great teams this season.
Filip Kuzmanovski
Left back, HC Eurofarm Pelister
Karpo
This was a real Balkan derby, and an amazing handball experience here in Bitola. We’ve opened the match really well, and I regret we didn’t use that to our advantage and control it. In the end we were however able to deliver a good performance and win the game. It’s hard to remain focused and calm in front of such an audience. Congrats to everyone, it was an absolute pleasure to play here today.








Karpo Sirotic
Centre back, HC Zagreb
Buster Juul
We did not manage to stick to our gameplan in those final ten minutes of the game. Paris were, on the other hand, really good in that period, playing almost without a single mistake. We were not able to help Landin grab some saves that could have maybe helped us get out of this one victorious.










Buster Juul
Left wing, Aalborg Handbold
Green
It was an interesting game to play, and a fun one to play. Atmosphere was amazing here today. I’ve got to say I’m really happy about this win against a really good Aalborg team!







Jannick Green
Goalkeeper, Paris Saint-Germain Handball
Sabate
I would like to congratulate my team on a very smart outing against the best team in Europe, in my opinion. Great defensive performance from our side in the first half, supported by Marcel Jastrzebski between posts. We were aware that we have to remain focused, as Veszprem clearly has the quality to get back into it. We've managed to keep the tempo up performing really well in attack. I'm happy with the attitude my players presented here today, and of course I'm happy with these new points ahead of the break.
Xavi Sabate
Head coach, Orlen Wisla Plock
Ilic
I want to congratulate Wisla, as they were the better team. I have to be honest and say I didn't even recognize my own team out there today. I took time-outs several times but saw no effect. All the substitutions did not help either. ORLEN Wisła Płock deserved to win today, because they were much more effective in attack.



Momir Ilic
Head coach. Telekom Veszprem HC
Resende
In the first half it was a very good game, we were playing very well. Once we started making mistakes on the attacking side of the court, Magdeburg knew how to take advantage of them scoring four easy goals. Mistakes we were making were simply the ones you can't afford yourself to make when facing such a great team.




Carlos Resende
Head coach, FC Porto
Wiegert
It’s difficult to play against Porto and we've experienced certain problems on the defensive side of the ball today. The attacks were really fantastic today, on both sides. In the second half we've managed to raise the bar on defense which helped us open the gap. I feel like this nine-goal difference is a bit too much considering what we were seeing here today.








Bennet Wiegert
Head coach, SC Magdeburg
Melvyn
Those two points were very important for us. We are leaders of the group going into the break. We've played very well and managed to keep our focus. It's not always the easiest thing to do when dealing with such a busy schedule, but we did it today.






Melvyn Richardson
Right back, Barca
Cokan
We've got to be honest and say that Barça is on another level compared to us, and that was well-visible out there today. We've managed to stick to our plan actually, but unfortunately that was not enough.










Tim Cokan
Right wing, RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko

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