EHF Champions League

Eight remain in the race for Cologne

EHF / Kevin Domas

10 May 2022, 11:00

Defending champions Barça had already beaten their quarter-final opponent Flensburg twice in the group phase, now the 2014 champions hope to strike back in the race for Cologne. Group winners Aalborg have the tough test at Veszprém ahead and the Hungarian side is unbeaten on home ground in this Champions League season.

In the other pairings, Paris and Kiel will face each other in the rematch of last season’s quarter-finals, won by the French side, while Montpellier will try to build an advantage on Thursday before flying out to Kielce next week.

Against Barca we need everything – a tough defence and discipline in the attack. In the last two games, Perez de Vargas did a great job, so it was really difficult for us. We will fight together to score important goals. We hope for a great atmosphere in the Flens-Arena which could help us a lot in this tough and important game.

Kevin Møller

Flensburg goalkeeper

Paris Saint-Germain HB (FRA) vs THW Kiel (GER)
Wednesday 11 May, 20:45 CET, live on EHFTV

Paris and Kiel faced each other 13 times in the EHF Champions League, and both sides won six games, with one resulting in a draw
last season, both sides faced each other in the quarter-finals, with Paris qualifying for the EHF FINAL4. The French side won the return leg at home (34:29) after losing by two in Germany (31:29)
this quarter-final participation is the eighth in a row for Paris, a record as no other European team has matched this performance in recent years
Paris’ best scorers, Mikkel Hansen (75 goals) and Kamil Syprzak (73 goals), are both ahead of Niclas Ekberg, who netted 63 times for THW Kiel
Paris Saint-Germain celebrated their eighth straight French title last week after they beat Montpellier, their 25th win in as many games this season
THW Kiel are currently second in the German Bundesliga, four points behind SC Magdeburg, and won the German Cup last month

Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN) vs Aalborg Håndbold (DEN)
Thursday 12 May, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

Aalborg directly qualified for the quarter-finals as winners of group A, while Veszprém eliminated Vardar in the play-offs after finishing fourth in group B
Veszprém play their 27th EHF Champions League season and their 20th quarter-final, while Aalborg are in their seventh season and their second consecutive quarter-final after eliminating Flensburg last year on their way to Cologne
both sides faced four times so far, each side won two matches, both teams won the away matches in the 2020/21 group phase
Icelander Aron Palmarsson is the only Champions League winner in Aalborg’s squad (with Barça in 2021, 2010 and 2012 with Kiel) and he is a former Veszprém player
current Champions League top scorer Felix Claar (81 goals) and Lukas Sandell on Aalborg’s side won gold medals at the EHF EURO 2022 with Sweden, beating Spain including Veszprém’s players Rodrigo Corrales and Jorge Maqueda
Aalborg top the group of the Danish play-offs after beating Fredericia 27:23, while Veszprém are second in the Hungarian league, one point below Szeged but with two games in hand following a 34:28 win against Budakalsz

Aalborg is a fantastic team, they are very disciplined and physically strong. We need to play our own game, we cannot let them run and we need to be focused. Whichever team is going to be stronger mentally and makes fewer mistakes will go through.

Petar Nenadic

Veszprém playmaker