Ivan Maroz, who had arrived from SKA Minsk before the season, was the hero for Motor Zaporozhye - but even the 16 saves of the new goalkeeper had not been enough on Thursday night to cause a sensation against the favourites from Barça in the first ever duel of both sides.  

Motor showed a strong performance, but mainly in the first 20 minutes of the second half, Barça were stronger. 

Group B: 

HC Motor (UKR) vs Barça (ESP) 25:30 (11:13) 

• Barça wing Aleix Gomez scored ten goals from eleven attempts to be the top scorer of this opener. 
• The opening goal was the only time Motor were in the lead, with the closest gap in the second half being two goals at the beginning. 
• Barça’s biggest advantage was eight goals at 28:20  
• Motor goalkeeper Ivan Maroz saved 16 shots, while his Barça counterpart Gonzalo Perez de Vargas made 12 saves. 
• Next week, Barça will host Celje, while Motor travel to Aalborg.

Barça end their opening curse 

Three times in a row - from 2017 until 2019 - Barça did not win their opening match in the EHF Champions League - on Thursday, they ended the curse in Ukraine. In the 2017/18 season, they tied at Rhein-Neckar Löwen in their first group match, one year later, they lost at the same German opponent 34:35, and in September 2019 they were defeated 28:31 at Pick Szeged in Hungary in their opener. The last victory in an opening match for Barça was the 28:23 at Orlen Wisla Plock in 2016.