KIF, Barcelona and Plock chasing second win

Already Sunday at noon, two undefeated teams meet in the VELUX EHF Champions League Group B, as FC Barcelona take on Orlen Wisla Plock in the Palau Blaugrana, and later in the afternoon, Besikta MOGAZ HT have their home debut against KIF Kolding København, while the defending champions will be eager to return on the winning track against Sweden's Alingsas.

GROUP B
FC Barcelona (ESP) vs Orlen Wisla Plock (POL)
Sunday 5 October at 12:30 local time, live on ehfTV.com

Barcelona started their Champions League campaign according to plan through their expected clear win away against Alingsas last Sunday. However, in spite of playing at home this time, Barca may face a bigger challenge this time than in their 38:28 win in Sweden.

Their visitors, Orlen Wisla Plock also got a fine start to the group through their 28:19 win at home against Besiktas MOGAZ HT on Saturday. That win could have been even bigger than those nine goals, if Plock had not relaxed a bit towards the end.

The match Sunday at noon will be the first competitive meeting ever between those two clubs, and there is no doubt that Plock will do their utmost to make their first encounter with Barcelona a memorable one, even though very few away teams win in the Palau Blaugrana.

The hosts will miss not only the injured right wing Victor Tomas but also the left back Siarhei Rutenka, who received a one match suspension from the EHF Court of Handball for his elbowing incident in the first round.

For three Spaniards in the Plock squad (coach Manuel Cadenas, goalkeeper Rodrigo Corrales - pictured below, and Angel Montoro) it will be a very emotional return to Barcelona as all of them had spells with the Catalan club in their career.

Besiktas MOGAZ HT (TUR) vs KIF Kolding København (DEN)
Sunday 5 October at 16:10 local time, live on ehfTV.com

It will be a historical event taking place in the Sinam Erdem Spor Salonu in Istanbul in the late afternoon hours Sunday. For the first time ever are Besiktas MOGAZ HT playing an EHF Champions League game at home, and the Turkish champions will be eager to do better than in their Champions League debut in Poland where they lost by nine goals against Orlen Wisla Plock.

The Turkish handball attendance record of 3,100 is set to be broken as even the football coach of Besiktas Slaven Bilic encouraged the Black Eagles fans to support their handball team.

While it will be Besiktas' first competitive meeting with a Danish team, KIF have previous experience with Turkish opposition. In the 2003-04 season, they met ASKI Ankara in the Champions League group phase and drew 27:27 in Ankara after having missed two penalty shots within the last eight minutes.

However, KIF seem to be in a far better condition these days than 11 years ago, judging by their astonishing 35:21 win at home against SG Flensburg-Handewitt in their opening match. They still take things pretty easy in Kolding, though.

“There are still nine games left in the group phase, and we still have to work hard to qualify for the knock-out phase and, what is more, to qualify from as high a position as possible, left back Bo Spellerberg told ehfCL.com.

SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs Alingsas HK (SWE)
Sunday 5 October at 19:30 local time, live on ehfTV.com

The defending VELUX EHF Champions League winners from Flensburg definitely have something to make up for after their disastrous start to the tournament, losing 35:21 away to KIF Kolding København.

“However, such things do happen in sport from time to time, and we will simply have to get over it fast,” Flensburg goalkeeper Mattias Andersson told ehfCL.com.

He and his teammates got the taste of winning back already Wednesday evening, as they defeated Erlangen 27:17 in the Bundesliga, and Sunday evening they get the chance to get back on track in the Champions League also, when the Swedish champions from Alingsas are visiting FLENS-ARENA.

In Alingsas, left wing Daniel Tellander is well aware that his team are underdogs for the second Champions League match in a row.

“We are beginning our Champions League campaign against the strongest possible opponents, so winning will have to start later for us,” the Swedish international told his club's website.