Plock and Melsungen proceed, Nantes out
For 14 teams, the group phase of the EHF Champions League Men 2026/27 ended on Wednesday night, with Orlen Wisla Plock and MT Melsungen staying in the competition after grabbing group B’s main round spots.
HBC Nantes, however, will continue their European season in the EHF European League Men after their 27:33 defeat to Plock and Melsungen’s 26:26 draw with HC Vardar 1961.
Once again, we showed that we are playing well and producing good handball, and today we did so against one of the best teams in the world right now. We played an excellent game for 50 minutes, but in the last 10 minutes our level dropped and we made some technical errors. However, we were also up against one of the best goalkeepers in the world, which made things more difficult for us.
I think that, even though there were no points or qualification at stake in this match, it was still very intense and highly competitive. Both teams played with their best players and gave everything they had. The game remained balanced until the last five or six minutes, when we managed to build a lead. With the new Champions League format this year, it’s very important to advance with four points.
I think we prepared extremely well, both technically and physically. Mentally, as a team, I think we showed great fighter spirit and stood together. I'm so proud of the guys and really happy that we can advance to the main round.
Plock played a good match tonight. They played better than us. They deserve the qualification for the next round. I think we made too many mistakes. We missed too many shots tonight.
I would like to congratulate my teammates on their phenomenal fighting spirit, as well as our supporters for their incredible support. Although we made many mistakes, both in attack and defence, we managed to earn a draw. I hope we will treat this match as another valuable lesson, learn from the mistakes we made and perform better next time.
We knew the atmosphere would be incredible and that Vardar would play with all the energy they had. I know how important the Champions League is to this club, so we expected them to give everything on the court. We knew it would be extremely difficult, and that is exactly the kind of match we experienced. We did not deliver our best performance, but I would like to thank my players.
We’re very happy with this win at home. Getting through to the next round with three points is really important for us, and it gives us a great foundation for the next stage. We’re in a good rhythm and full of confidence.
I think we didn’t play our best today. It was a really tough match for us. It’s always difficult to play in this arena with such a great atmosphere. We were missing the last 5 per cent, we hope to perform better in the next game.
It was our last match in the Champions League, but in the second half we simply weren't solid enough and ran out of steam. The first half was good. We were quite solid in defence, and the goalkeeper was in good form. But then, in the second half, we simply ran out of gas.
Celje is a young team, they run very well, maintain a high tempo, and thrive on easy goals. In the first half, we allowed them to play their game, and that was evident in the score — we couldn't pull away. But we withstood the pressure, there was a great atmosphere here in Celje, and we're happy we managed to secure the two points.
We’ve had a very good group stage. We didn’t drop any points, stuck to our game plan and are heading into the main round with four points. Naturally, we can be satisfied with that.
It hurts right now. But we knew we would be facing a strong Magdeburg team. We wanted to put up a good fight, and for long stretches, we managed to do that. Nevertheless, you can clearly see the difference in quality. Matches like these are extremely important for us because they show us where we need to improve.
I think we played a good game. There were a few spells when we lost momentum and our opponents reduced the gap to two goals, forcing us to extend our lead again. Everyone approached this game professionally, and there was never any question of taking our foot off the gas. We had more freedom in our play because we knew we had already qualified, so we could let our imagination run free and take more shots.
We knew it would be a difficult game because Kielce are an experienced team. We tried to compete and find ways to counter their strengths, but at times, the level of handball Industria Kielce produced was simply too high for us.
