Barça down Aalborg to remain unbeaten
With 72 goals, the fans in Aalborg witnessed a proper offensive feast. While the match was played at a blistering speed, Aalborg were unable to raise the intensity in the second half.
Led by their goalkeeper Emil Nielsen, Barça took the advantage with 15 minutes to play to step up the pace and cruise away to a vicory that keeps them top of group B with five wins from five.
GROUP A :
Aalborg Handbold (DEN) vs Barça (ESP) 33:39 (19:19)
- the teams were tied at half-time after a feast of goals, but Barça raised their performance in the second
- Thanks to Aleix Gomez scoring six goals early in the first half, the visitors came back on the scoreboard to remain even at the break
- while Barça kept their rhythm in the second half, Aalborg found it harder to score games, especially since Emil Nielsen pulled out a terrific performance between Barça's posts
- the Danish goalkeeper saved four shots in a row, and his team went on a 5-0 run, with Aitor Arino and Aleix Gomez not missing one shot on fastbreaks
- Barça took a maximum advantage of eight goals at the 56th minute
- Aleix Gomez netted 11 goals for Barça, while Lukas Sandell netted eight times for Aalborg
Emil Nielsen, Barça game-changer
After Gonzalo Perez de Vargas conceded 19 goals in the first half, Barça coach Carlos Ortega decided to put Nielsen between the posts at the start of the second half.
His choice was definitely the right one.
The Danish goalkeeper pulled out 10 saves, stopping almost half of the shots aimed at him. Saving an opportunity for the hosts to take a three-goal advantage, Nielsen helped Barça turn the game around before topping his performance with a seven-meter save from Mikkel Hansen.
We played really well in the second half. Both teams played really well and there was not a big difference. But in the end the most important thing is the two points and we are really glad that we won this game.
