Russian consolation with 2nd place 

Although Russian champions won easily by 41:31 (20:15), the match in Chekhov was a very exciting game with lot of nice action. The Russian handball fans could enjoy great passes form Filipov, spectacular solutions from Dibirov, incredible goals from Abalo and great saves from Grams.

The 3.000 spectators in the Chekhov Hall were good reason to forget the dramatic defeat in Leon and focus on the victory.

After the first 50 seconds of the match, Medvedi already had a 2:0 advantage. In the early stage of the match Maximov decided to change goalkeeper. Kostygov (3 saves – 43%) was substituted by Grams who started with some nice saves too.

The Russians increased the margin and in the 13th minute the result was 10:6. Ivry got closer by the 22nd minute at 13:11, but Chipurin was simply unstoppable on the 6-meters line. Medvedi soon took a 16:12 lead and Stephane Imbratta had to call a time-out. Ivry did not wake up after that and Medvedi ended the first half with 20:15.

In the second half the Russians increased the margin. The excellent Chipurin and Kovalev gave Medvedi the biggest advantage of 12 goals in the 44th minute (32:20). Grams was brilliant in the goal and all that French coach could do was to take time-out again (34:26). But it did not change anything. Medvedi finished the match with a convincing result, 41:31.

Stephane Imbratta was not satisfied with the defence of his team:

“We did not play well in defence, we were weak in team work and we did not put in enough effort to win this match. The good thing is that we have learnt a lot in these CL matches as well as in this last game in Chekhov. And that mean a lot for us.”

High efficiency

The Russians were very efficient in scoring and in saving too. This time they even did not have problems with the efficiency from the 7-metre line (2/2).

The best player of the match was goalkeeper Grams with 23 saves (46%). The best scorers were Chipurin with 10 goals (from 10 attempts) and Kovalev with 9 goals (also from 10 attempts). Igropulo and Kamanin scored 6 each.

Ivry’s Abalo scored 7 goals, Tuzolana and Martinovic 6.

Considering the fact that the best CL result so far for Chehovskie Medvedi was reaching the last 16 in the previous season, they can be satisfied with their accomplishment. They finished with 6 points taking the second place of Group 1 in front of Ademar Leon and behind semi-finalist Kiel.