ROUND PREVIEW: following a five-goal defeat in Bucharest, AEK hope to turn things around at home
CSM Bucuresti, the Challenge Cup winners in 2019, defeated AEK Athens HC in the EHF European Cup Men Last 16 first leg at home, 28:23.
Yet AEK, who were the finalists of the third-tier European club competition in 2018, hope to make a strong comeback on Sunday in Athens.
Six of the weekend's clashes will be streamed live on EHFTV.
- besides the match in Greece, four more return-leg encounters will take place this weekend
- it will be especially tight in Polva, as local side Polva Serviti and Russia's SGAU-Saratov ended the first-leg match in a 28:28 draw
- in the Czech-Slovak derby, HC Robe Zubri need to defend a seven-goal advantage taken in the home game against MSK Povazska Bystrica (29:22)
- two ties, Donbas vs CS Minaur Baia Mare and SC kelag Ferlach vs Sabbianco Anorthosis Famagusta, will be played as double-headers on Friday and Saturday
- Ystads IF progressed to the quarter-final without playing, as their matches with SG INSIGNIS Handball Westwien were cancelled due to the Covod-19 situation
Bosnian sides looking for home revenge
Bosnia and Herzegovina have two teams left in the competition, yet both lost their first-leg games away from home.
Following a 33:21 defeat at HC Neva SPb, Gracanica need a miracle in the return match in order to go through. However, RK Borac m:tel have a more realistic chance to turn things around, as they lost at RK Gorenje Velenje by only four goals, 32:28.
TEXT:
EHF / Sergey Nikolaev