Road to EHF European Cup Men final wide open
The race to the EHF European Cup Men 2022/23 final is going down to the wire this weekend. Both first-leg matches of the semi-finals were close last week, with titleholders Nærbø IL (against Runar Sandefjord Elite) and Vojvodina (against Alingsås HK) ultimately taking small victories.
Sandefjord and Alingsås are still in with a fair chance to hit back in the return games this weekend, so both ties are still wide open.
- in the Norwegian derby, titleholders Nærbø will host Sandefjord on Sunday following their 29:27 away win last week
- Sandefjord will again heavily rely on experienced right back Christoffer Rambo, who became top scorer of the first leg with 12 goals
- on Wednesday, both teams reached the Norwegian league semi-final after beating their quarter-final opponents for the second time: Nærbø defeated Drammen 23:21, and Sandefjord proved too strong for Kristiansand, 42:33
- on Saturday, Vojvodina will host Swedish side Alingsås in Novi Sad as the Serbian hosts will try to make up their one-goal deficit from the first leg, which they narrowly lost 25:24
- either side can write a piece of club history, since they both have not reached the final of any European club competition before
Alingsås rely on good goalkeeping
While Vojvodina are hopeful to wipe out the one-goal deficit, their rivals Alingsås travel to Serbia looking to defend that advantage.
Last year, the Swedish team also reached the European Cup semi-final, but they lost to Romania’s CS Minaur Baia Mare. Now Alingsås hope to do better, and one of their trump cards is goalkeeper Rickard Frisk, who boasted a 44 per cent save rate last Sunday.
Photos © Sandefjord; Bildbryån
