AEK claim maiden European trophy

For the first time in the club’s history, AEK Athens HC have won an EHF competition on Sunday, as they were too strong for Ystads IF in the EHF European Cup Men final.

Following a 30:26 win in the first-leg match on Friday, AEK successfully defended their advantage and won by four goals again, 24:20.

AEK became just the second Greek winner of a European club competition after Diomidis Argous triumphed in the EHF Challenge Cup in 2012.

EUROPEAN CUP FINAL, SECOND LEG

Ystads IF (SWE) vs AEK Athens HC (GRE) 20:24 (11:11)
First leg result: 26:30, AEK win 54:46 on aggregate

• although Ystad were officially the home side now, the teams again met in Chalkida, Greece, like two days before
• Christodoulos Mylonas scored AEK’s three opening goals, and combined with Thomas Bauer’s saves, it helped Athens to a 6:4 lead midway through the first half
• however, Jakob Nygren converted five of his seven attempts before the break, so Ystad stabilized the game, and the sides were level at 11:11 at half-time
• the Swedish side led by one goal several times early in the second half, but then AEK regained control of the game and cruised to a win
• AEK’s Mylonas and Ystad’s Nygren became joint top scorers of the match, with five goals each

Solid defence earns AEK the title

Early in the second half, Ystad had some hopes of turning things around. However, they did not last long, as AEK greatly improved their defence and were back on track. Between minutes 38 and 56, the Swedish team scored only two goals, and as Athens were in a 22:16 lead, all doubts were gone – and the celebrations could start. Similar to the first leg, AEK’s goalkeeper Thomas Bauer did a god job, finishing the game with 10 saves for a 37 per cent save rate.