Despite losing three of their last six games, Lomza Vive Kielce finished the group phase of the EHF Champions League Men on a high with a 34:29 win against C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti.
The Polish champions have secured a quarter-final berth, and they will win the group if PSG fail to win against Telekom Veszprém HC on Thursday or if PSG and Barça both secure wins in their final games in group B.
GROUP B
Lomza Vive Kielce (POL) vs C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) 34:29 (20:13)
- a 4:0 start that prevented Dinamo from scoring in the first six minutes and 23 seconds of the game was enough to see Kielce cruise to their 10th win of the season
- Kielce right wing Arkadiusz Moryto scored seven times in the first 27 minutes and surpassed his previous highest total in a game this season when he scored a penalty in the 40th minute
- German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff saved 17 shots, including four penalties, for an outstanding save efficiency of 37 per cent
- the Polish side finished the group phase with seven wins out of seven games on their home court, joining Aalborg Handbold as the only sides with a 100 per cent record at home
- after winning only four of their 14 matches, Dinamo have been eliminated. Their final tally of eight points is two points fewer than sixth-placed SG Flensburg-Handewitt, who still have a game in hand
Kielce hit milestone to qualify
Kielce knew that a win would see them advance to the quarter-finals and they duly delivered, despite a flurry of mishaps that prompted Talant Dujshebaev to call a timeout late in the first half, which came with plenty of talk about discipline and a strong wake-up call.
The Polish side clinched their place in the quarter-finals with their 120th win in the EHF Champions League, a feat achieved only by six other teams, while Dinamo were once again left disappointed by their defence, which conceded 470 goals in the group phase.
We made mistakes in our system of seven against six, we tried to resolve this, but the distance was already too big. Talant took the time out when we were losing by two and that was very important. We played well, but they played great in the final moments.
When we started the Champions League, we lost in Bucuresti and no one would say we would finish as first or second in the group. It was an amazing match of Andi (Wolff). Thanks to him we could score easy goals. I'm not satisfied with our performance from the 29th minute of the first half to the 12th minute of the second half.
