Like in 2021, Telekom Veszprém eliminated HC Vardar 1961 in the EHF Champions League Men play-offs, but this time the result was much closer.
On Wednesday, Vardar, who won the EHF Champions League in 2016/17 and 2018/19, took a 31:31 draw in the Lion’s Den in Hungary – but lost 61:53 on aggregate.
In May, the record Hungarian champions will face 2021 runners-up Aalborg Håndbold in their 20th EHF Champions League quarter-final. Veszprém will play the first match in the quarter-finals on home ground.
PLAY-OFF, SECOND LEG
Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN) vs HC Vardar 1961 (MKD) 31:31 (18:13)
First leg: 30:22. Telekom Veszprém HC won 61:53 on aggregate
- it was Veszprém's second draw (besides 11 victories) in 15 Champions League matches against Vardar – and their fourth straight unbeaten match in the play-offs after last season's 41:27 and 39:30 and the 30:22 in the first leg last week
- 11 Veszprém players were on the scoresheet when the home side had extended their overall advantage to 13 goals at half-time
- the most spectacular and funniest strike of the match was the 8:6 by Veszprém’s defence specialist Adrián Sipos, who caused a turnover, ran a counter attack and was more or less already down on the floor when he profited from a misunderstanding of Vardar's defence and goalkeeper
- in the second half, the margin decreased, as Veszprém continued their huge rotation and additionally missed many clear chances, while Vardar showed morale to level the score for the first time at 29:29
- Yahia Omar scored seven goals for Veszprém and Yoel Cuni Morales netted six times for Vardar to finish as the top scorers. By netting once, 38-year-old Vardar left wing Timur Dibirov finished the Champions League season on 75 strikes
Veszprém reach their ninth quarter-final in 10 years
Since the 2012/13 season, Telekom Veszprém have reached the EHF Champions League quarter-finals nine times, which is a sign of consistency and strength. The only time that they were eliminated in the Last 16 was in 2018 by Danish side Skjern.
On their way to six EHF FINAL 4 tournaments in Cologne, Veszprém eliminated big names in the quarter-finals such as EHF Champions League winners SG Flensburg-Handewitt, Montpellier HB and Vardar – and even PSG twice. Last season, HBC Nantes knocked out the Hungarian side in the quarter-finals.
