Handball - Women's European Cups

> http://www.eurohandball.com/ec…-11/round/3/Group+Matches

Six of the eight Main Round participants in the
Women’s Champions League are known after Round 5: After Larvik,
Podgorica, Ljubljana and Győr, on Sunday Itxako (winner in Leipzig) and
Oltchim Vâlcea (victory against Randers) also made the step to the last
eight teams. Like Larvik, Podgorica secured their fifth straight
victory.

Viborg and Volgograd will fight for the last free
place in Group A next weekend, as will Leipzig and Hypo in Group B.
Viborg need a small miracle, whereas Leipzig only needs one point to go
on.

Group A:

Dinamo Volgograd – Budućnost Podgorica 27:32 (14:15)

The Budućnost Express is still unstoppable – with
their fifth straight victory the team from Montenegro kept the tension
high in Group A.

Again Katarina Bulatović was the match winner for the guest with nine goals, Olga Levina scored eight times for Volgograd.

The Russian champion missed the chance to qualify for
the Main Round (as a draw would have been enough), but still have their
fate in their own hands.

Even if they lose by a seven-goal difference in the
last round in Viborg, they are through to the next stage, as they won
the first duel against the reigning champion by an eight-goal margin.
Bulatović, Bojana Popović with seven goals and goalkeeper Barjaktarović
decided the game for the guest.

Viborg HK – Sävehof IF 37:33 (23:16)

Viborg kept its hopes for the Main Round alive, but now has to win by nine goals against Volgograd in the last round.

The Danes had been dominant before the break and led
with a seven-goal difference. Then their concentration lapsed – maybe
the players were already thinking about the Volgograd game. This enabled
Sävehof to reduce the gap, although not to endanger Viborg, despite ten
goals from Isabelle Gulldén.

Mouna Chebbah was VHK's top scorer with eight goals,
but the top player of the match in both attack and defence was Marit
Malm Frafjord with six goals.

Group B:

HC Leipzig – SD Itxako Reyno de Navarra 27:31 (16:20)

Itxako not only took revenge for the surprising home
defeat against Leipzig, but they also qualified for the Main Round after
their fourth consecutive victory.

HC Leipzig now needs at least a draw in the last
group match against Hypo to go on. If the Germans lose in Austria, Hypo
will qualify.

More than 3000 spectators saw a brave and spirited
fight from their team, but the Spanish champion was too strong thanks to
their individual class.

Leipzig had to replace some injured key players, and Itxako was highly focused to overturn the result of Round 1.

Until the score of 7:8 the match was equal, but then
the Spaniards – thanks to great saves of goalkeeper Silvia Navarro -
extended the lead goal-by-goal.

The Germans made many errors after the break, which
enabled Itxako to increase their advantage to 27:20. Even though the
host reduced the gap, Itxako's victory was well deserved. Leipzig's
Karolina Kudlacz was the top scorer of the match with nine goals.

Hypo Niederösterreich – DVSC-Korvex Debrecen 28:26 (15:14)

Thanks to the eight goals of do Nascimento and seven
from Rotis-Nagy, the record title-holder of the Women´s Champions League
can still hope for the Main Round with four points. If Leipzig loses on
Sunday against Itxako and Hypo beats the Germans in the last round, the
Austrians will have made their way thanks to their direct encounter.

Debrecen (whose top scorer was Bognár with eight
goals) is out of the race now. The match was very even, just like in
the first round when the two teams met each other, Debrecen had the
chance to win despite the fact that Hypo was leading for most of the
time. Hypo turned an 8:10 deficit into a 15:14 advantage at the break
and kept the lead until the 21:19 stage, before the Hungarians turned
the game with three consecutive goals. But Hypo had the right answer by
scoring four straight goals to make it 25:22. The last real ‘sign of
life’ from Debrecen reduced the gap to 25:24, before the Austrians
decided the game in the last minute.

Group C:

Larvik HK – Toulon Saint Cyr Var 38:26 (23:12)

Fifth match, fifth LHK victory – even though Larvik
had already qualified for the Main Round, the Norwegians again showed
their strength, this time against the French champion. Thanks to this
result, Vâlcea only needs one point on home ground against Randers on
Sunday to follow in the footsteps of LHK.

Player of the match was Heidi Løke, who scored 12
times and took the lead in the top-scorer rankings with 42 goals after
five matches. Kristiansen scored six times, and Riegelhuth five times
for the Norwegians, while Tuvene was Toulon’s top scorer with seven
goals.

The match was decided very early, as Larvik led 14:4
thanks to their brilliant defence and their counter-attacks. After 30
minutes, the difference was eleven goals, but in the second-half, Toulon
improved as the host decelerated in this completely one-sided game.

Toulon’s slim chance of reaching the Main Round is
dependent on three factors - a Randers victory in Ramnicu Vâlcea, after
which they must themselves beat Randers, whilst hoping for a Vâlcea
defeat against Larvik.

Oltchim Vâlcea – Randers HK 28:22 (12:9)

After two CL defeats in Randers and Larvik, and
discussions about the future of coach Péter Kovács, the Romanian
champion has found its way to the Main Round.

Thanks to the revenge gained against the Danish
runners-up, Oltchim Vâlcea has qualified for the next stage with six
points. But even if Oltchim wins the final duel (between last season’s
semi-finalists) against Larvik next weekend they cannot become number
one in this group ahead of the still unbeaten Norwegians.

The Randers defence stood strong at the beginning of the match and the Romanians had problems in finding their rhythm.

After 15 minutes Vâlcea improved, but the difference
at the break was only three goals. This changed completely afterwards,
as, especially, Ionela Stanca (top scorer with eight goals), Ramona
Farcau (7) and Cristina Neagu all played a suberb second-half and
decided the game early.

As Oltchim Vâlcea has qualified for the Main Round,
Randers and Toulon (equal with two points) will fight for the third rank
and the qualification for the Cup Winners` Cup next weekend. The French
champion, host of the match, only needs a draw to go through, whereas
Randers needs to win.

Group D:

Győri Audi ETO – Zvezda Zvenigorod 33:22 (19:12)

While Zvezda failed to qualify for the Main Round for
the third consecutive time, Győr is among the top eight teams of the
Women’s Champions League.

The Hungarians not only took revenge for their defeat in Russia, but went on to the next stage in a most impressive manner.

Zvezda made far too many mistakes in the first 20
minutes – and Győr punished them with counter attacks. Thanks to their
high speed play, goalkeeper Katalin Pálinger, and a strong defence, the
host led clearly 8:2, and 12:4, and was close to a ten-goal gap with a
score of 16:7 in the 24th minute.

The Russians tried to come back into the game and
played with much more concentration in the last six minutes before and
the first five minutes after the break. When Ana Gros hit the back of
the net right before the half-time whistle to make it to 19:12, things
looked very good for the home team.

The Hungarians had to thank goalkeeper Lunde
Haraldsen in the 36th minute, as the Norwegian international saved a
penalty shot, and thanks to two straight goals, the team of Csaba
Konkoly took control again.

From that point onwards it was quite an easy job to take the two points, and with them, qualification to the Main Round.

Zvezda finally accepted that the match was a lost cause when the
score reached 29:20 in the 47th minute. The top scorers were Sen with 8
goals for the away and Görbicz with 7 for the home team.

Despite the defeat, Zvezda has qualified for the Cup Winners` Cup and
so will remain at international level. Győr and Krim will fight for the
number one status in this group in the last round.

RK Krim – Podravka Vegeta Koprivnica 26:22 (12:12)

Like Győr, Krim has cleared the final hurdle to the Main Round by winning the Balkan duel.

This close match was imprinted by two outstanding
goalkeepers – but not even the 23 saves of Ivana Jelzic were enough to
give Podravka its first point of the season.

On the other side, Croatian-born Jelena Grubišić saved 18 shots, and her team decided the game in the final stage of the match.

Koprivnica was on level terms until the score of
22:21, but then their former player Andrea Penezić scored some decisive
goals in a tense match, attended by 3500 spectators.

The Group Matches of the EHF Women’s CL will come to
an end this weekend. In each of the four groups there are open
questions. The eight games on Saturday and Sunday will give the answers
to these and the ranking will finally be decided.

The winner and second placed teams of the four groups
will continue in the Main Round of the EHF Champions League; the third
ranked teams will continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Let’s see the chances group by group and team by team!

Group A

Budućnost: The Montenegrin side will close on the first position.
Dinamo: In order to take 2nd place, the Russians must not lose by more than 8 goals in Denmark.
Viborg: The Danes have to win by 9 goals or more. Otherwise they remain on 3rd spot.
Sävehof: No more chance for the third place.

21.11.2010
Viborg HK vs Dinamo

21.11.2010
"Budućnost" vs IK Sävehof

Group B

Itxako: The Spanish team will win the group.
Leipzig: A victory or a draw would be needed to qualify for the Main Round.
Hypo: A home win against Leipzig would take the Austrians to the next round.
DVSC: Debrecen will only play for a nice farewell from the competition.

20.11.2010
Itxako Reyno De Navarra vs DVSC - Korvex

20.11.2010
Hypo Niederösterreich vs HC Leipzig

Group C

Larvik: Already secured top spot; only a 100% record is at stake.
[b]Vâlcea:[/b] The finalists of last season are qualified for the next stage on second position.
Toulon: A draw or a victory against Randers would take them to the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Randers: Only an away victory would be enough for the Danes.

21.11.2010
C.S. "Oltchim" Rm. Vâlcea vs Larvik

21.11.2010
Toulon Saint Cyr Var Handball vs Randers HK

Group D

[b]Győr:[/b] The Hungarians can stay on first position with a victory or a draw in the last round.
Krim: An away success would secure group victory for the Slovenians.
Zvezda: No matter what the last round brings, the Russian team will continue in the CWC.
Podravka: The Croats will go for their first points; no chance for anything more than that...

20.11.2010
Győri AUDI ETO KC vs RK Krim

21.11.2010
HC Podravka Vegeta vs Zvezda

Two places remain vacant among the final 8 teams that will participate
in the Main Round of the EHF Champions League when the competition
resumes in February 2011. In Group A, title-holder Viborg need a victory
with a high margin to advance to the next phase, whilst Hungarian Győri
AUDI ETO and Slovenian Krim will battle for first place in their group
to secure the best possible seeding position for the Main Round draw on
the 23rd November.

Reigning champion Viborg are in big trouble. The
Danes need to beat their Russian opponent by 9 goals or more if they are
to advance to the Main Round and stand a chance of defending their EHF
Champions League title.

A very hard task awaits the Danish Champion though,
as its strong Russian counterpart is aiming for the same goal. The team
of Victor Ryabykh could have made everything clear last weekend, but on
home soil they clearly lost against the superior Budućnost Podgorica.
Even a returning Anna Kochetova wasn’t able to help her team to victory.

In preparation for the weekend clash, Viborg
celebrated a clear 7-goal victory over Århus in the Danish league. Anja
Althaus performed well and aggressively in the central defensive
position, and goalkeeper Louise Bager Due played an inspired game
between the sticks.

If the team of Jakob Vestergaard fails in its
last-gasp EHF Champions League bid, the Danes must resign themselves to
playing in the Cup Winners’ Cup. This would mean no possibility of
defending their title from the last two seasons, and also no Danish
involvement in the last 8 for the first time since season 2001/2002.

The home team enters the last round with maximum
points, whilst the Swedes are without points in the EHF Champions League
so far.

On paper, this seems to be a mere formality for the
Dragan Adžić team that impressively walked over Dinamo Volgograd in an
away game to celebrate its fifth victory in five games.

Before entering national team preparation, the
Budućnost players want to show their class again, and their goal is
another victory before the CL season takes a two-month break.

As predicted at the beginning of the season, this
year’s campaign has been a learning process for the team of IK Sävehof,
and the players have gained valuable experience from the high-class
games.

A slight improvement has been visible in the recent
matches of the Swedes, although this probably won’t be enough to take
the points from Budućnost.

A real thriller is coming up in the Südstadt as this game will decide who takes a spot in the Main Round.

Both clubs were part of last year’s Main Round, but
this year, only one of them will continue in the next phase of the
prestigious Champions League.

Hypo are considered to have a slight advantage for
winning the place among the best 8, as the team of coach Martin
Matuschkowitz plays at home and they’ve already beaten Leipzig away. It
also means some pressure for the players, although they seem confident:

"With the win over Debrecen we opened the gate to the
Main Round and on Saturday we’d like to pass through it." - said
Brazilian international Dani Piedade.

"This week, the commitment of the players at training
sessions has doubled. Everyone is motivated and we really want to
defeat Leipzig." - continued the line player.

The players of Leipzig, on the other hand, seemingly
had their minds on the CL game already during their recent Bundesliga
game against Frankfurter HC. They gave an unfocused performance,
conceded lots of goals, and finally lost the home game 33:36.

"We need to improve all parts of our game if we’re to
secure a point against Hypo on Saturday." - concluded coach Heine
Jensen after this bitter defeat.

Whether this result gives Hypo extra confidence, or
whether it was just a bad Leipzig rehearsal prior to the main act, we’ll
find out in an exciting game on Saturday evening.

Everything is already decided for both teams:
Debrecen finish their European season after this game, whilst Itxako
continue in the Main Round and also has a good seeding position due to
finishing first in its group.

The Spanish club made history last weekend, as it’s
the first time that it’s qualified for the Main Round of the EHF
Champions League. Therefore, the final match against its Hungarian
opponent will be the chance for a big celebration, and where the team
can dedicate this historic achievement to its loyal supporters.

Debrecen are having a very busy schedule this season,
with six tough games within the space of 1.5 months in the EHF
Champions League, and a league match almost every week in the strong
Hungarian Championship.

They faced the impressive team of Vác on Wednesday in
a league game, but despite a fantastic victory and the good performance
of returning wing-player Gabriella Juhász, the team of Vilmos Köstner
suffered another injury. Barbara Bognár won’t play in Spain as she’ll be
missing for a longer period, and this will reduce the chances of the
Hungarians to a minimum.

So, Debrecen will play without any real middle-back
in Spain, but even so, the pressure is off them now, and they’d like to
bid farewell to the CL in a positive way.

It’s all or nothingfor both teams. With a
Randers victory, the Danish side would enter the Cup Winners’ Cup,
whilst Toulon need a draw as minimum to continue there.

The French club has already defeated Randers, its
only victory so far, and now the players are aiming for their first home
victory to remain in the European Cup season.

"We’ve scored 26 and 28 goals in the two games against strong competitor Larvik." - said coach Thierry Vincent.

"That’s a great accomplishment, so we look forward to the decisive game before the international break." - continued the coach.

Randers, on the other hand, tried to upset the 2009/2010 EHF CL-finalist, Oltchim Vâlcea, last week in Romania.

"We really made them fight hard. One could see that
we only had a few substitutes, whilst they had some players from the
Romanian national team as replacements." - commented satisfied coach Jan
Leslie.

"The Romanians were tired at the end, and I must
confess, I’m very proud of my girls for fighting until the last second."
- continued Leslie.

Randers need to build on this fighting spirit to
succeed: "I hope for a victory in France. It would be great fun to
continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup in February and play another final in
the ELRO Arena." - young Gitte Andersen concluded.

Will Larvik remain ‘spotless’, or will Oltchim take revenge for its loss in Norway?

8 of the Larvik players will continue with the
national team after the EHF Champions League takes its break, so before
they join the EHF EURO preparations, the club wants to demonstrate its
powerful handball again and win for the sixth consecutive time.

Against Toulon, middle-back Gro Hammerseng played her
second game after her injury, and even though she was supposed to play
in defence only, she scored twice and gave many assists.

"Gro was amazingly good, and it’s great to see her back in full swing after the injury." - commented a pleased Karl Erik Bøhn.

It's recently been reported though that besides
Hammerseng, Kari-Mette Johansen, Tonje Larsen, and Cecilie Leganger
won't participate in Larvik's game against Oltchim.

For Larvik, the game in Romania will be a double
anniversary: besides being the 100th time that the club has played in
the EHF Champions League, Nora Mørk will also celebrate her 100th senior
game at club level.

Despite their victory and the resulting qualification
for the Main Round, their Romanian counterpart wasn’t really convincing
in the attacking game against Randers.

"The important qualification to the last 8 is fully
deserved. Our defence worked well, and we’re working to be strong in the
attacking game as well." - told coach Péter Kovács.

The Hungarian coach aims for success in the last
match of the Group Phase: "We’re a professional club and we’ll not rest
on the fact that we’ve already qualified for the Main Round."

Both teams have already advanced to the Main Round of the CL, so in this game they’ll battle for first position in the group.

With a home victory over Podravka Vegeta, KRIM, yet
again, qualified for the next phase of the competition. In this final
game of the Preliminary Round, the team of Marta Bon wishes to take
revenge for their only loss, so far, in the CL this season, by stealing
two points from Győr, and with them, first place in the group.

After the all-important qualification to the next
phase, and despite some injuries, the atmosphere is good in the KRIM
camp, and the players will go all-out to beat their Hungarian opponent.

Győr, on the other hand, have been in continuous top
gear since the third round of the competition. The Hungarians defeated
their opponents in a very impressive manner and with victory against
KRIM, the team of Csaba Konkoly aims to finish in first position in the
group.

AUDI ETO celebrated a clear victory in the Hungarian
league on Wednesday evening, even though the coach rested two of his
classy players, Orsolya Vérten and Anita Görbicz, prior to this crucial
game.

Everything is already decided for these teams: Zvezda
will continue in the Cup Winners’ Cup, as in the previous two years,
whilst Podravka leave the European stage after finishing last in the
group.

The Croats fought bravely in Ljubljana as they sought
their first points in the Champions League campaign, but they could
only keep the game open in the first half. In the end, they lost by four
goals, and now the team of Neven Hrupec is hoping for a victory over
Zvezda to give their supporters something to cheer about.

The European season will be over for Podravka after
this game, but even so, they’re the main contenders for winning their
national league, and a few games in the Women’s Regional Handball League
remain to be played. Coach Hrupec will then focus on building a quality
team for next season.

Zvezda, on the other hand, failed for the third
consecutive time to qualify for the Main Round of the EHF Champions
League. In their decisive game against Győr, the Russians couldn’t
organise their collective game in attack, and each player was playing
for herself. Only individual actions by Anna Sen brought some goals.

"We’ve only scored two goals in the first and last
ten minutes of the game and that´s not enough to stand up against a
quality opponent like Győr." - concluded Evgeny Trefilov after the game.

Leipzig becomes the seventh participant of the EHF Women´s CL Main Round after winning in Austria. The last team to reach the next stage will be known on Sunday after Viborg has played against Dinamo.

Group B:

Hypo Niederösterreich - HC Leipzig 20:23 (12:11)

They danced on the field, they were cheered by their fans – and after the final whistle they started their big celebration: HC Leipzig has qualified for the second straight time in club history for the Main Round.

By winning the close, tense, and decisive last match they broke another international club record: HCL took six points from three away matches. For Hypo, the Cup Winners´ Cup will be a new dimension in their international career, as in the last six years (and of course before) they progressed much further.

The first half was equal with weak attacks from both sides. Hypo relied on their strong goalkeeper Olga Sanko and the HCL defence also stood strong.

Once the Germans took the lead in 36th minute, they held it until the final whistle.

Even a Hypo time-out at the score of 17:20 couldn’t awaken the Austrians, as they continued to miss too many chances. But it took until the 58th minute for the game to be decided with a score of 22:19 for Leipzig.

Itxako Reyno de Navarra - DVSC-Korvex Debrecen 39:24 (10:14)

The Spanish Champion celebrated its fifth straight victory since the opening-day defeat against Leipzig, clearing the final hurdle in the Group Phase in overwhelming fashion.

The Spaniards, who had already qualified for the Main Round as number one, played cat and mouse with the Hungarians from the 20th minute onwards, and after the score had been as close as 9:8 at the beginning.

For Debrecen, the international season is over with only one EHF Champions League victory gained – on home soil against Hypo.

In Navarra they hardly had a glimpse of a chance, especially in the second half when Itxako accelerated and Debrecen simply surrendered. In the 40th minute the gap was ten goals for the first time (26:16).

Bulath scored seven goals for DVSC, while Pena was the Itxako top-scorer with six.

Group D:

Audi ETO Győr - RK Krim Ljubljana 26:21 (11:9)

AUDI ETO Győr is the winner of Group D with ten points, ahead of Krim with eight, after this match of two teams which had already qualified.

The first half was mostly even, despite the fact that Győr had the better start. Even so, Krim remained on eye level.

After the break it only took nine minutes before the difference was six goals at 16:10, and eleven minutes later, things were pretty much decided at the score of 22:15.

The biggest gap was at 24:16, and although Krim pulled closer in the final stages, it was too late to turn the game.

Top scorers were Vérten with six goals for Győr, and Vergelyuk and Mavsar with five each for Krim.

48 matches have been played, the Group Phase of the EHF Women’s Champions League is over – and the final decisions have been made in Round 6: Volgograd were highly lucky to qualify for the Main Round, as reigning champion Viborg were close to a sensation – but the Danes "only" won with a seven-goal difference.

The only unbeaten team in the whole competition is Budućnost Podgorica, as Larvik lost their first match on Sunday in Vâlcea. Toulon took the last free place in the Cup Winners’ Cup by narrowly beating Randers.

On Tuesday (11 hrs local time, live stream on www.ehfTV.com) all eyes will be on Vienna, when the draw for the Main Round will take place. The two Main Round groups will each consist of two group winners and two runners-up (not coming from the same group).

Group winners:

Budućnost Podgorica (MNE)

Itxako Reyno de Navarra (ESP)

Larvik HK (NOR)

Audi ETO Győr (HUN)

Runners-up:

Dinamo Volgograd (RUS)

HC Leipzig (GER)

Oltchim Vâlcea (ROM)

RK Krim Ljubljana (SLO)

The Main Round will be played over six rounds from 5th February 2011 to 20th March 2011. The two best-ranked teams will qualify for the semi-finals.

The following teams – with a total twelve EHF Women’s CL titles between them - will go into the Cup Winners’ Cup:

Viborg HK (DEN)

Hypo Niederösterreich (AUT)

Toulon Saint Cyr Var (FRA)

Zvezda Zvenigorod (RUS)

Group A:

Viborg HK – Dinamo Volgograd 36:29 (14:17)

The last decision has been taken – and reigning CL champion Viborg HK was close to a big sensation.

The Danes needed to beat Dinamo Volgograd with a nine goal difference to qualify as the eighth and last team for the Main Round – and only two goals were missing at the end of a legendary match.

The decisive game had one key figure: Grit Jurack. The German right-back scored an incredible total of 17 goals, six of them from penalty shots.

Jurack was the driver of the roller coaster. Nobody would have bet on Viborg after 30 minutes, as the Russians were leading 17:14 – and the ‘distance to the Main Round’ was a massive 12 goals for Viborg, with only 30 minutes to go.

But by changing their defence, Viborg found the joker in the pack, and the dramatic catch-up chase started. Seven minutes before the end Viborg had turned the game completely and by reaching 31:24 after a 17:7 series the sensation was close.

In the final stage, Volgograd managed to put the brakes on the Jurack express, and by maintaining the gap at seven goals, they stumbled, but did not fall.

The reigning champion will go onto the Cup Winners’ Cup, while Volgograd remain among the top eight teams of the CL. Even the 12 goals of Lambevska were overshadowed by the great "Grit solo".

Budućnost Podgorica- IK Sävehof 33:26 (16:14)

Thanks to this expected victory, the champion from Montenegro is the only one of the 16 teams to have won all of their six matches in the group stage.

Sävehof could surprisingly catch up until the break, but then lacked the power and concentration, as Budućnost scored one goal after another.

The Swedes remain the only team not to gain a point in this EHF Champions League season.

Group C:

Toulon Saint Cyr Var - Randers HK 24:23 (16:10)

After Viborg had missed the Main Round earlier, Randers dropped out of European competition for this season after losing at CL debutant Toulon.

Despite a catch-up chase by the Danes after the break, the French Champion had the better finish, and secured the third rank in this group with four points, and ahead of Randers (on 2).

For the Danes it was the fifth straight defeat after beating Vâlcea in the opener.

Oltchim Vâlcea - Larvik HK 33:28 (18:13)

Prestigious success for Vâlcea, first defeat for Larvik – but both teams had already qualified for the Main Round.

As group winner Larvik had won the first duel 34:31, this was the opportunity for the Romanians to show their strength.

The Norwegians travelled without 5 of their main players to Romania, and Vâlcea played highly effective and fast handball in attack.

The score was very clear at the break, and the Norwegians did not find the way to penetrate the Romanian defence.

Thanks to a 5:1 series right after the break, Larvik was close to turning the game at the score of 18:19 – and still had hope until the 25:27 and the final stage of the match.

Then Vâlcea set free their last powers and took a well-deserved victory – the revenge was complete.

Top scorers were Larvik’s Nora Mørk, Linn Jørum Sulland and Heidi Løke, and Oltchim’s Ionela Stanca and Valentina Ardean Elisei, each with six goals.

Statement after the match:

Péter Kovács, coach Oltchim Vâlcea: "It was a beautiful game played by both teams. Oltchim and Larvik have extraordinary qualities in offence and defence, but also we must not forget the goalkeepers. Neagu, Stanca, Manea, Elisei and Fiera played very well. I can say that all the girls made a good job today. The fact that we didn’t have any pressure made us play more freely."

Group D:

Podravka Koprivnica - Zvezda Zvenigorod 41:28 (22:17)

Happy ending for Koprivnica, bitter-sweet group finale for Zvezda: The Croats won their first match in the EHF Champions League this season but must say good-bye to the European Cups, as the Russians – despite the clear defeat - will go onto the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Nine goals from Ivana Petković and seven from Vesna Milanović-Litre paved the way for this unexpectedly clear victory – but Zvezda had the top scorer in their squad: Ekaterina Vetkova with eleven goals.

Though the first half was quite even, the Russians were only a playing-thing for Podravka after the break, as the Croats won the second half 19:11.

Maybe one reason for the clear defeat was the absence of their coach Evgeny Trefilov.

The Semi-Finals of the Champions League:

The Semi-Finals of the EHF Cup:

The Semi-Finals of the Cup Winners' Cup: