Barcelona easily take their 10th group phase victory

After the devastating 4:0 defeat of FC Barcelona’s football team in Paris in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, Barca’s handball team had no problems taking their 10th group phase win in the VELUX EHF Champions League 2016/17 Group Phase. The final result of 31:24 at Schaffhausen reflects the easy-going evening for the vistors.

• Barcelona made it six wins from their previous six matches against Kadetten, now having an overall goal difference of +49.

• The Catalans remain on top of Group A with 20 points from eleven matches.

• Schaffhausen were defeated for the ninth time in their 10th group match.

• After seven goals on Thursday night, Kadetten’s Hungarian top scorer Gabor Csaszar has an overall tally of 61 strikes.

Group A

Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) vs FC Barcelona Lassa (ESP) 24:31 (10:18)

The David vs Goliath duel ended closer than expected after Barcelona had won the first match 38:25. Like last Saturday's match against Kiel, Kadetten Schaffhausen sometimes posed a threat for FC Barcelona Lassa but, like against the Germans last week, they finished with no points.

In contrast to the previous home match - the debut of new coach Petr Kukucka - the match against the EHF Champions League's most successful club was decided early. Against Kiel, the Swiss side had been on an equal terms for 45 minutes but then lacked power and concentration.

Barcelona’s defence was made of concrete on Thursday night in the BBC Arena, and behind it goalkeeper Borko Ristovski stood strong, saving 31% of all shots. This meant Schaffhausen had enormous problems in attack before the break.

With the score at 10:6, Kukucka took his time-out, but the former Slovakian international could not stop the downswing in his team's fortunes. When 2010 IHF World Handball Player of the Year Filip Jicha netted into an empty goal on the half-time buzzer, the margin had risen to an already-decisive eight goals (18:10).

Having the 10th win in their eleventh group match in mind, Barcelona did not do more than they had to after the break. The defence was not as aggressive as before and in attack they missed several chances, but the victory was never in doubt even when Kadetten reduced the gap to 26:22 with 10 minutes to go.

After a short, but intense, time-out speech from coach Xavi Pascual, Barcelona were back on track and they scored a double to seal the deal. French world champion Timothey N’Guessan was Barca’s best scorer, with five goals.

Kadetten Schaffhausen coach Peter Kukucka said: "I'm a little bit satisfied: We had a lot of injured players but we have made good progress during the last two weeks. I'm happy with my team, especially with the second half. During the first 30 minutes we made too many mistakes."