The best counterattacks of Europe
The best counterattacks of Europe
With the start of the VELUX EHF Champions League approaching fast, let’s have a look at the teams who do best in a crucial element of the game: the counterattack.
5. Skjern Handbold
The Danish team surprised with their performance last season when they qualified for the quarter-final, after beating Telekom Veszprém by seven goals at home. Skjern’s youngsters are the perfect elements for the fast-reacting, Northern-style of handball, while Bjarte Myrhol, Anders Eggert and Thomas Mogensen add their experience to the team like an unmissable spice to a dish. These gentlemen can run through any big team without any kind of hesitation.
4. SG Flensburg-Handewitt
The German champions have undergone some changes but this does not mean that we will see less fast goals from them after their well-put-together defence gets in action. Flensburg are one of those teams that build on their solid wall, and thanks to their effectiveness, many counter attacks end with a goal scored by one of their sprinter wings.
3. HBC Nantes
The French supernova beat PSG last season at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne with an impressive game giving no chance to the star-filled team to prevail. Nantes’s biggest weapon is in their wings: among the top four scorers of the team were David Balaguer and Dominik Klein, which tells a lot about their style of playing handball. After Klein retired, his successor, Valero Rivera, will fit in this system and likely become just as efficient as his predecessor was.
2. Rhein-Neckar Löwen
With the guidance of their top soccer, Andre Schmid, Löwen are one of the fastest team in the competition. Their second best scorer last season was Jerry Tollbring, as the 22-year-old player overcame Patrick Groetzki, Bogdan Radivojevic and Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson, some of the biggest names on the wing position. Löwen have a compact playing style, Oliver Roggisch put together a though and precise defence and thanks to that they can mostly live from their effective counter attacks.
1. Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain boast arguably the strongest roster in the VELUX EHF Champions League. For many they are the No. 1 team - although they have not been able to lift the trophy so far. The team is famous not just because of its players but of the really fast, aggressive and effective playing style. With Uwe Gensheimer’s guidance, the synonym for counter attacks, and with the arrival of Raul Gonzalez these characteristics will even get more emphasis.
