Women’s summary: Round 6

The first group phase in women’s CL is over. Buducnost T-Mobile from Podgorica took the last free place in the main round. By beating FCK, the Montenegrins ended Group B behind Hypo.

Győr, Ikast, Valcea, Koprivnica, Viborg and Krim had already been qualified for the next stage of the competition. The draw for the main round will be carried out on Tuesday in Vienna. The two groups will include two group winners and two runner-ups, but no team will play against the same opponent once again.

Group A

Zvezda Zvenigorod – Győri Audi ETO 28:29 (15:15)
Kometal Skopje – Ikast-Brande 32:27 (20:12)

Győr go to the main round as winner of group A with ten points. Even as the Hungarians still missed Anita Görbicz, they won a tense match against the title holders. The game was very close, but Győr were the lucky one at the end. Similarly to the match before, goalkeeper Pálinger, Herr (8 goals) and Tomori (5) were the match winners for the Hungarians. Zvezda’s best scorers were Poltoratskaya and Baranovskaja with five goals each. When Zvezda started better, Pálinger made important saves and took Győr on the winning path. In the second half Győr stayed in the lead for most of the time. The biggest difference was four goals. Mravikova scored the last and decisive goals for the Hungarians.

And Zvezda had to say goodbye to the European competitions with a great result by Kometal Skopje. As the Macedonians won their last match against Ikast, they can continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

The 2,000 fans in Skopje saw a very good home team in first half. Ikast only scored 20 percent of their shots as Skopje showed a strong defensive performance. After 30 minutes the match was already decided, even if Ikast could come closer. The Danes never had a chance to turn the page despite the six goals from Gro Hammerseng.

Group B

Hypo Niederösterreich – Elda Prestigio 33:22 (16:13)
Buducnost T-Mobile FCK Kopenhagen 25:22 (12:11)

5,000 spectators attended the decisive match of Group B when Podgorica only needed a draw to go on in the Champions League. After beating FCK, it was clear that Buducnost could celebrate their greatest CL success since 2004 when they reached the quarterfinals.

The first ever CL season finished for the team of Copenhagen. They can go on in the CWC now. The match was equal until 18:18, but after that Podgorica showed a strong defence and FCK couldn’t catch up anymore.

As Nadine Krause was suspended for the final stage of the match, Podgorica didn’t have any problem to take the two important points.

“Even as we were leading at halftime, our performance was very weak,” Hypo goalkeeper Sabine Englert said after the fifth victory from six matches, “but then we improved and made our way to a clear and easy win.” As Hypo had been qualified for the main round before, the match was less important for the ranking more for the self assurance of Hypo. It took 20 minutes for the Viennese club to find the pace and the rhythm against the pointless team from Spain. As the Austrians played on full speed after break, the distance increased from minute to minute. As the match was decided, coach András Németh spared the energy of his key players. The best scorer of Hypo was Tímea Tóth with seven goals.

Group C

HC Lada – Larvik HK 27:36(10:16)
Oltchim Valcea – Podravka Koprivnica 24:28 (13:16)

Koprivnica are the biggest surprise of this season’s Champions League. As most of the experts expected Larvik – with Olympic gold medallists in the team – to go through to the main round, now Koprivnica even beat Valcea after qualifying for the main round already last week. However, the 28:24 away victory wasn’t enough for the Croats to become number one in the group. The Croatians and the Romanians finish with the same number of points, but Koprivnica lost the direct encounter due to the 20:30 defeat against Valcea on home court. The best scorers of Valcea were Ardean, Meirosu and Manea with each four goals. Ana Dokic scored eight times for Koprivnica.

Dokic said after the match: “Both teams played very well, but in the end we had more luck. But we showed that we can beat the best teams.”

For Valcea’s coach Ivica Rimanic the defeat was a warning signal: “We have to give 100% every match, otherwise we can’t win.”

Podravka coach Zdravko Zovko has a special wish for the future: “I hope, we’ll meet again in the semi-finals.”

Larvik made their way to the CWC by winning in Russia. Though even a ten-goal defeat would haven been enough for the Norwegians, Larvik wanted to show their strength again, after they missed their chances in the Champions League.

Larvik dominated the whole match, as Lada were still without key players. The Russian Olga Medvedeva was the best scorer for the Norwegians. She hit the net ten times.

“We had the match under full control,” said Kari Mete Johanssen afterwards. The best scorer of Lada was Natalia Turbanova with eight goals.

Group D

1. FC Nürnberg Metz Handball 33:30 (15:15)
Viborg HK – Krim Ljubljana 38:28 (19:16)

Viborg took revenge for their only defeat of the season by beating Krim very clearly. The Danish champions won their group with ten points. After the first round Viborg has scored the highest number of goals (225 in six matches – no other team reached 200). They also have the best goal difference (+50) in the CL.

The match against Krim was equal until 14:14 as the Slovenians were led by Lekic and pivot Bodnieva (both best scorers for Krim with six goals each). But after the break (19:16 for Viborg) a great show started by Bojana Popovic. She scored all together 12 goals and together with a strong goalkeeping performance by Louise Bager they reached a very clear win.

“We took revenge, that’s what we wanted. But this match was only one step towards our big objective, which is the Champions League victory. So we don’t care about the upcoming draw, we have to beat every opponent,” left handed Grit Jurack said after scoring nine goals.
Jurack explained the reasons why Viborg could beat Ljubljana this time: “Our defence was much stronger and in attack we played in a very attractive and efficient way. This match was special as Krim were the only team in any competition to beat us this season. So we were highly motivated.”

Nürnberg’s farewell to the Champions League was their victory on the sixth match. Led by goalkeeper Mariana Gubova and Ania Rösler, the German champions won against Metz. The French will continue in the CWC. The first 30 minutes were close, even if Metz had some advantages in attack.

After the break, Nürnberg showed their best side scoring five goals in a row and took a 20:15 lead. Metz still fought hard, closed the game, but could not take the lead back.

The saves of Gubova helped Nürnberg in this phase, and as Kerstin Wohlbold scored to make it 31:27 with just four minutes to go, the match was decided.

The best scorers of Nürnberg were Rösler (10 goals) and Engel (8). Poznarova and Kysukanova scored five for Metz.