Group A review

News

On Sunday, Paris Saint-Germain Handball concluded their group stage by beating Zagreb at home (37-26). Les Rouge et Bleu finished this first part of the competition in second place in the group.

Matchday 14

Flensburg - Celje: 29-26
At home, the Germans recorded a fourth consecutive win, beating a Celje side who were not yet assured of a place in the Champions League Round of 16. Well led by in-form German pivot Johannes Golla, who bagged eight goals, they were almost always in front before accelerating late in the game with a 5-0 streak in the final minutes. A 300th Champions League match well played by Flensburg.

Barcelona - Szeged: 30-28
Szeged came very close to being the bête noire against Barcelona. After a first leg in which The Pick won 31-28, the Hungarians were two goals ahead at half-time on Saturday (13-15) - the first time Barcelona fell behind at home this season... The Spaniards quickly corrected the situation in the second half and equalised through playmaker Luka Cindric (7 goals), but Szeged were unstoppable and even managed to regain a two-goal lead in the last five minutes (26-28). With the home crowd pushing them to the limit, Barcelona raised their defensive tempo, making several interceptions and scoring four unanswered goals to run out winners in this final group-stage clash, which was a game without real stakes but which kept the spectators on tenterhooks for the full 60 minutes.

Aalborg - Elverum: 30-28
Despite being well in front at half-time (18-11), Aalborg had a much more complicated second half and came close to seeing their Norwegian neighbours pull level. Although Eleverum were already out of the 2019-2020 Champions League, the Norwegian champions went out on their shields, with Lukas Sandell scoring seven goals and being named as right-back in the Best 7 for Round 14.

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The table: 

Teams Matches played
 Points Goal difference
1. Barcelona 14 26 105
2. Paris Saint-Germain Handball 14 22 55
3. Szeged  14 20 39
4. Aalborg  14 15 -4
5. Flensburg 14 15 9
6. Celje 14 6 -74
7. Zagreb 14 5 -76
8. Elverum 14 3 -54

En route for the Velux EHF Final4:

In the round of 16, the Parisians will face Romanian side Dinamo Bucharest for the first time in the club's history. Should they win that tie, they could meet Kielce in the quarter-finals - for a third season in a row!