Round 3 of the EHF Champions League was as exciting as handball fans would expect with five matches played last Wednesday and Thursday.
 
The most exciting match in round 3 for SEHA teams was the one between Telekom Veszprem and Barca. After Hungarians suffered a defeat in round 2 when they lost to Lomza Vive Kielce, they were looking to secure new points in a match with Spaniards. In a packed Veszprem Arena, Inoue Langaro scored the first goal after four minutes of play, and then the match went goal-by-goal until the very end. Rasmus Lauge Schmidt decided the match by scoring 2 minutes before the final whistle. The real hero of the day was Rodrigo Corrales who saved 19 out of 44 shots, had 43% efficiency, and made a match-winning save in the last seconds of the encounter.
 
In Skopje, Vardar 1961 faced Aalborg Handbold in their first competitive encounter. Until the match, both teams were unbeaten in the EHFCL, but the victory streak ended for Aalborg as Veselin Vujovic’s team managed to beat them with 30:28. At the beginning of the match, guests took the lead with +4 goals but went on a break with 16:16 and Timur Dibirov’s six goals in the first half. Red&Black came stronger in the second half as Olivier Nyokas netted seven and Jeremy Toto 5 out of 5, which in the end brought the team from Skopje second win at home in a row.
 
Motor Zaporozhye hosted Kielce in Zaporozhye in a very levelled match. As mentioned above, Kielce defeated Veszprem in a round 2 match and were looking for another win in Ukraine. On the other hand, the team of Gintaras Savukynas had one victory and one defeat and were hoping for another group phase win. Motor were trying to keep up with Kielce through the whole match, and although Aidenas Malasinskas scored nine and Gennadiy Komok had 15 saves, it wasn’t enough for their second EHFCL win (25:26).
 
Zagreb hosted Elverum Handball in a match with an amazing start for PPD Zagreb. Csaba Leimeter and David Mandic combined nine goals in the first 15 minutes of the match and helped their team to go on a break with a +3 lead (14:11). Elverum started to level up their game which they showed mostly in the second half. Zagreb’s last victory in the EHFCL was in February 2020 and this was the perfect chance to end that negative streak. But Zagreb struggled to find a way through Elverum’s defense and the match ended with a draw (27:27).
 
On the second day of Round 3, out of SEHA teams only Meshkov Brest played on Thursday. Brest were looking to collect their first points in the EHFCL, while Hungarian Pick Szeged still aren’t defeated (they only have one draw against Montpellier HB in the first round). The stats were on the Hungarian side as they have beaten Meshkov six out of eight times before. In the first 30 minutes, Stas Skube was a real asset to the team scoring three and assisting five times but still wasn’t enough because Szeged went on a break with a +4 goal advantage. Guests kept their advantage in the second half and ended the match with 28:25 win in Brest.
 
Round 4 is played on 13th and 14th October. The schedule is as follows:
 
Wednesday, 13th October
 
THW Kiel – PPD Zagreb (18:45 CET)
 
Aalborg Handbold – Meshkov Brest (18:45 CET)
 
Vardar 1961 – Montpellier HB (20:45 CET)
 
Thursday, 14th October
 
Paris Saint-Germain – Motor Zaporozhye (20:45 CET)

FC Porto – Telekom Veszprem (20:45 CET)