GROUP B
Lomza Industria Kielce (POL) vs. RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO) 36:28 (18:15)
- in the first half, Kielce strongly relied on their line players in attack, as Nicolas Tournat (five goals) and Artsem Karalek (three) scored almost 50% of their goals
- only five Celje players were on the score board after 30 minutes, topped by Ante Ivankovic with six strikes
- the visitors had a surprisingly strong start (10:6) and were ahead until the 13:12 mark, before Kielce turned the match around, only allowing three more goals in the last eight minutes before the break
- despite an almost constant four-to-five goal deficit, Celje were a tough nut to be cracked for Kielce, but from 29:24 on, the hosts easily decided the match
- finally, Ivankovic was top scorer of the match with nine goals, Arkadiusz Moryto (Kielce) added eight strikes to his tally and is on 58 overall goals now
What a year for Kielce!
2022 was - besides 2016 - the best year in club history for Lomza Industria Kielce: On domestic duty, they just about defended the Polish championship trophy, but even more astonishing were their results in the EHF Champions League: In 18 CL matches, Talant Dujshebaev's men took 15 victories and were defeated only three times - once in a 2021/22 group match by Veszprem, twice by Barça; one defeat in the 2022/23 group phase and another one after a penalty shoot-out in the most thrilling Champions League final for years. Kielce were group winners in the 2021/22 season, eliminated Montpellier in the quarter-finals and took revenge against Veszprem in the semi at Cologne. And currently they are the only challenger for Barça after nine victories in ten group matches.
