Dinamo out after heavy defeat against Motor

After ABC/UMinho and TTH Holstebro were eliminated last week, it was Dinamo’s turn to wave the white flag this time after crashing to a 35:27 defeat against Motor Zaporozhye in VELUX EHF Champions League Round 8.

Motor are now level with leaders Nantes on 11 points. The French side can claim safe passage to the play-off round with a win against Besiktas on Sunday.

• Hosts earned fourth straight victory after last week’s surprise win against Nantes

• Dinamo’s sharpshooter Sajad Esteki scored 11 times and jumped to second place on top scorers’ list with 54 goals in eight matches

• Barys Pukhouski, last year’s top scorer for Motor, got back into his role with eight goals after injury-marred first half of group stage

GROUP D

HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) vs Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) 35:27 (19:10)

It was a four-minute outburst that saw Motor seal the deal in what proved to be a decisive match for Dinamo. The Romanian side had no shot and was demolished on counter-attacks by their opponents, who took a commanding 4:0 lead.

The Ukrainian side jumped to 6:1 after six minutes and never looked back, with yet another daunting away performance from the Romanian champions.

The easy counter-attacks continued to mount in Dinamo’s goal, even after a time-out taken by Eliodor Voica. Motor’s defensive prowess was impressive as the Ukrainian side cruised to a 11:3 lead after 11 minutes.

Perfect 100% shot efficiency

Everything seemed to fall into place for the hosts, who had a perfect 100% shot efficiency after 20 minutes, after Dinamo’s Ionut Irimius failed to register a save.

With the Esteki brothers, Sajad and Allahkaram, slowly finding their form, Dinamo tried to mount a faint-hearted comeback, cutting Motor’s lead to six goals, 15:9.

But another nine-minute stint without a goal, that extended from the 21st minute right to the final second of the first half, gave Motor a 19:10 lead at half-time.

Healthy lead protected

With a healthy lead to protect, Motor made several changes in their team, but the scenario was unaltered. It was business as usual on the court with the Ukrainian side extending their lead to a 13-goal difference (27:14) with 20 minutes left.

With next week’s tie against Besiktas in mind, Motor took their foot off the gas and Dinamo took advantage and limited their loss to 35:27, their fourth loss in eight matches this competition.