Before the start of the group phase, GOG were often featured among the favourites to win the European League. So far, the Danish side has lived up to the expectations.
Tonight, they beat Benfica at the end of a completely crazy match, in which the teams scored 77 goals. It all unfolded in the dying seconds, though, with Emil Madsen netting the game winner while Benfica were three players down.
GROUP B:
GOG (DEN) vs SL Benfica (POR) 39:38 (20:18)
- GOG took the upper hand in the last minutes of the first half, scoring three goals in a row and crucial Viktor Hallgrimsson’s saves to take the first four-goal advantage
- the Danish side’s advantage peaked at six goals at the 40th minute, before Benfica came back into the game in the final quarter
- Benfica made an unexpected comeback in the last 10 minutes, with Ole Rahmel scoring from fast breaks and Jonas Kallman netting two in the dying seconds
- while Benfica had only three players left on the court due to cardings, Emil Madsen scored his seventh personal goal to secure the win for GOG
- with this win, GOG are now guaranteed to finish first in the group, while Benfica are second and will play a decisive home game against Nantes next week
An offensive festival that unfolded in the last second
For GOG, scoring 39 is not unusual, as the Danish side featured among the competition’s best offences prior to Round 9. But for their opponents score 38 is not that common, and as a consequence, tonight’s game resulted in a crazy offensive festival.
While the hosts seemed to have the game firmly in hand, they almost lost it to a Benfica side that had nothing left to lose. No wonder the able fans were delighted to watch such a show.
I think we played really well in periods and overall we can be very happy with our attacking play for most of the match. Obviously, the match was very exciting at the end when we have led by six goals. Nevertheless, we are very pleased with the victory over a strong team such as Benfica.
