Barça win close match in Montpellier, Aarhus claim historic first point
Two more teams, Barça and SC Magdeburg, extended their perfect starts to the season by claiming their second group-phase wins and maintaining their places at the top of the standings. Barça were pushed all the way in Montpellier before securing a narrow 28:27 victory, while Magdeburg cruised to another double-digit win (39:29) in Luzern. SAH Aarhus made history by claiming their first-ever point in the competition after a 25:25 draw with Dinamo Bucuresti, while Orlen Wisla Plock edged past Melsungen in a 25:24 thriller and Porto celebrated their first win of the season against Partizan (32:28).
We knew it was going to be a tough game. There are no easy games in the Champions League, but we are confident because we are playing well. We came into this game after a very important win against Benfica, and we knew that playing at home meant having the support of our fans. We had that extra factor today, which helped us get the win. We had our ups and downs during the game, but we fought hard in defence.
It was a tough game. The problem was that we started really badly and from then on, we had to chase the game for the full 60 minutes. We made a push in the last four minutes and tried to bring the score back to within one, but we didn’t score, and Porto were clever enough to manage the end of the game well.
In the first half we were able to run the fast breaks what helped us a lot to be in the game. In the second half, both teams could not keep this rhythm. Our defence was better and Mirko was absolutely decisive. I am really happy for two points, this new format is really tough and our group is the death group. I would like to congratulate Mirko for his 24th season in the Champions League. That is something incredible, also because he was our key player in the match during the second half.
We made a good game, but in the end we had no energy to get a victory here. We were missing three of our back players that are important for us. We were playing a lot of matches so we were missing a little bit of intensity and energy. It was a great match, great atmosphere in the Champions League and I hope we can get more victories in the next matches.
We wanted to show ourselves in the best possible light. Every match we play, we want to win, and we approached this one with the same mindset. At the end of the day, you have to have that kind of mentality, but simply... they are just too good at this point in time. We still have a lot of work to do on this journey.
We’re really happy that we could manage to win the game tonight. It was a really nice atmosphere to play here, first time for me and I enjoyed it. Celje have a really good team. Many really young players with a good future.
We have regrets about our start of match, but we kept Barcelona to only 10 goals in the second half. We need to use that performance for the future and turn a narrow defeat into a win. Barcelona have great experience and that showed at the end.
It’s always a great pleasure to return to play here, in what was a fantastic atmosphere. We had a good start but lost some balls and allowed Montpellier to come back into the game. It then became a seesaw game, Rémi (Desbonnet) kept us at bay and gave them the opportunities to equalise. We lacked fluidity in attack, but we need to analyse our performance to see where we can progress.
It was a close and physical game where we had to work hard for every single goal. It was amazing to play the club’s first Champions League home game, and the support from the crowd was incredible. Of course, we’re disappointed that we couldn’t get the win, but we’ll take the experience with us and learn from just how hard you have to fight for every single point in the Champions League.
It was a good, close game between two evenly matched teams. We defended really well at times, especially against seven-on-six, but we didn’t take enough advantage of the periods when we were playing well. Of course, we’re disappointed that we didn’t manage to take the win, but overall I think it was a fairly even result.
Despite the defeat, today was an exciting EHF Champions League match. Magdeburg showed us our limits, but we remain positive and are looking forward to the upcoming group games.
