EHFCL Round 3 Preview: SEHA derby in Zaporozhye as Veszprem come to visit

EHF Champions League mbr

EHF Champions League continues on Wednesday with group phase round three. All five of our SEHA – Gazprom League representatives in Europe’s elite club handball competition will get out there either on Wednesday or Thursday with duel between Motor and Telekom Veszprem in Zaporozhye, Ukraine being our SEHA derby of EHFCL Round 3. Without further ado, let’s get started with our weekly EHF Champions League preview!

(Group A) Meshkov Brest - PSG

After the opening-round win over Vardar 1961 and a narrow loss in Portugal against Porto, the time has come for coach Raul Alonso and his players to welcome one of Europe’s strongest teams at the moment – Paris Saint Germain. Meshkov are from match to match, ever since the Zadar tournament, proving to be in great form and it will be interesting to see whether they can stun favored and highly-motivated guests who are coming to Belarus without a single point so far – their first-round match against MOL-Pick Szeged ended up being postponed due to coronavirus outbreak in the Hungarian club and in the second round they fell short against German Flensburg. Two rounds into the group phase Belarusians are positioned fifth in group A with two points.
 
(Group B) PPD Zagreb - Aalborg

Two rounds into the group phase PPD Zagreb are bottom-positioned team in group B having suffered two tough defeats in the opening two rounds – at home against THW Kiel (-10) and in Hungary versus Telekom Veszprem (-12). Coach Igor Vori and his guys are aware that although it is still early home-match against Danish Aalborg might turn out to be the key to achieving their goal of reaching the knock-out stage of the competition. Good thing is ‘Lions’ will, for the first time this season, have all of their players available and ready. Despite of the fact they are playing at home match will be far from easy because Aalborg have second highest scoring offense in the Champions League and PPD Zagreb will have to direct their full focus towards their flying offensive transition. Can Croatian champions come out victorious in Arena Zagreb and improve to 1-2 or will Aalborg deliver yet another splendid performance and steal points from Croatian capital?

(Group B) Motor Zaporozhye – Telekom Veszprem

SEHA derby of the round will be played in Ukraine with Motor Zaporozhye welcoming our SEHA – Gazprom League champions from Zadar, Telekom Veszprem. Hungarians are in great form at the moment and will, after tough away win in Nantes and dominant home win versus PPD Zagreb, look to improve to 3-0 making another step towards finishing on top of group B. Motor have on the other hand delivered two quite different performances losing by only five goals in the first round at home against Barcelona and then failing to repeat such a performance in Denmark in the second round allowing Aalborg to score almost 40 goals. Coach Savunykas and his players will without doubt be eager to stun favored Hungarians grabbing what might turn out the be vital two points for their intentions to reach the knock-out phase so make sure not to miss this one.

Four of our SEHA – Gazprom League representatives in Europe’s elite club handball competition will get out there either on Wednesday or Thursday with duel between Motor and Telekom Veszprem in Zaporozhye, Ukraine being our SEHA derby of EHFCL Round 3. Vardar 1961 will once again, after the last round and their encounter against Elverum, have their match against MOL-Pick Szeged postponed. 

EHFCL Round 3 schedule for SEHA – Gazprom League teams:

Wednesday (18.45 CET) Meshkov Brest - PSG
Wednesday (18.45 CET) Motor Zaporozhye – Telekom Veszprem
Wednesday (20.45 CET) PPD Zagreb - Aalborg