EHF European Cup Men quarter-finalists set after intense weekend

Runar Sandefjord went to Istanbul after an intense first leg last week that ended in a draw and left Türkiye as quarter-finalists. In another exciting match, the visitors from Norway lost control of the game only twice, at 18:17 and 27:26. Runar had an incredible start, leading 6:2 after seven minutes and increasing the gap to five after 12 minutes. However, Besiktas fought their way into this match, equalising in the 17th minute at 10:10. After that, Runar held a three-goal lead at some point, but could not pull away again. Lars Eivind Stärk Gurrich scored four of his six goals in the second half and decided the tie 19 seconds before the buzzer to give the Norwegian side a two-goal lead. Francisco Castro Peña scored to make it 30:29 for the guests (65:64 on aggregate).

• HC Izvidac beat Sabbianco Anorthosis Famagusta 30:25 in the second leg in Bosnia and Herzegovina; both teams struggled with goalkeeping, saving only 26 and 11 per cent, respectively; Famagusta’s best scorer in the competition, Eleftherios Seirekidis, had a rough day, scoring only once out of five shots; Izvidac go through winning 55:50 on aggregate
• Haukar comfortably reached the quarter-finals, beating RK Jeruzalem Ormoz 62:49 on aggregate; Haukar reached a shot efficiency of 76 per cent in the return leg; after scoring nine goals last week, Össur Haraldsson netted six goals on Saturday, making him the best scorer overall in both matches
• Aleksandar Petkovski (eight goals) and Marko Mitev (seven goals) combined for 15 goals to add another victory to HC Alkaloid’s season; the Macedonian side beat SSV Brixen Handball 38:31 after being down 20:19 at half-time; Petkovski scored six of his eight goals in the second half; Alkaloid qualify for the quarter-finals with a dominant 82:63 on aggregate
• Olympiacos beat Drammen HK 34:30 in the second leg, led by an outstanding performance from Savvas Savvas, who scored nine goals and contributed with six assists; last season’s finalists from Greece won the first leg on Friday 36:35, when line player Nikolaos Liapis stood out with 12 goals; Drammen came back from a seven-goal deficit after 36 minutes to stay in the tie, but in the end it was not enough for the Norwegian side

CS Minaur Baia Mare eliminate the ‘Flying Finns’

CS Minaur Baia Mare went to Finland for their double-header against BK-46 this weekend. The Finns had won 19 of their 21 domestic games, boasting eight victories in a row. On Friday, the Romanian side mounted an incredible comeback after being down 18:14 at half-time and 27:22 after 43 minutes. A 5:0 run after that, to make it 27:27, and another 5:0 run in the last five and a half minutes helped the visitors gain a slight advantage (33:30) after 60 minutes.

On Saturday, BK-46 tried everything to turn the tie around. They had the better start, leading by five goals during the first half. However, after 30 minutes, the visitors were ahead and leading by 17:16. The match flipped around with Minaur extending their lead to four goals after 43 minutes. Even though the Finnish club were able to climb back again, time was not on their side. BK-46 won the second leg by 32:31, but lost by 64:62 on aggregate and missed out on a quarter-final ticket.

Photos © Filip Viranovski (main), Patte Westerlund (in-text)