Leaders Barça face tricky away match

The EHF Champions League Men 2020/21 heads into its penultimate round of 2020 this week.

In group A, second-ranked Flensburg and third-ranked Brest will be eager to reduce the gap to leaders Kielce.

In group B, leaders Barça are after their 21st straight win in the competition, but they travel to Aalborg who upset Veszprém last week.

Veszprém host Kiel, less than four weeks before the teams meet again at the VELUX EHF FINAL4, and Motor can take a giant step towards the play-offs if they beat Celje.

GROUP A

SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs MOL-Pick Szeged (HUN)
Thursday 3 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• Flensburg won four of their six previous duels with Szeged, including all three home games
• Szeged took their first points of the season last week, against Elverum, and are ranked seventh, while Flensburg are second
• in the Hungarian league, Szeged suffered their first home defeat in 27 years against another team than Veszprém, losing 33:30 to Csurgo
• in the Bundesliga, Flensburg defeated Balingen (32:25) and are ranked third

HC Meshkov Brest (BLR) vs Elverum Handball (NOR)
Thursday 3 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• Brest and Elverum have not played each other before in a European club competition, and their match in Norway in round 6 was postponed
• Brest are ranked third with seven points from six games
• Elverum are bottom of the group with two points, just behind Szeged (two points) and Vardar (three)
• Elverum had an easy win in their domestic league this weekend, 33:21 against Fjellhammer IL

GROUP B

Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs Barça (ESP)
Wednesday 2 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• Barça won the high-scoring reverse fixture on home ground 42:33 and remain the only team in the competition yet to drop a point
• after three straight defeats, Aalborg upset Veszprém (32:30) in Hungary last week
• Dika Mem (39 goals for Barça) and Buster Juul (33 for Aalborg) are among the eight best scorers of the competition
• Barça won all seven previous duels against Aalborg, including a 31:11 away win in a Last 16 match of the 2014/15 season when they last won the title
• Barça are without Danish left wing Casper U. Mortensen, who underwent knee surgery

Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN) vs THW Kiel (GER)
Wednesday 2 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• Veszprém are four points ahead of Kiel after seven matches each, despite their defeat at home against Aalborg last week
• in the reverse fixture Veszprém came back from three goals downs in the final three minutes to get a 31:31 draw - the first ever draw between the teams
• Veszprém and Kiel both won 10 of their previous 21 matches
• in less than four weeks, both teams meet again - in the semi-final at the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2020 in Cologne on 28 December
• Veszprém players Rogerio Moraes and Rasmus Lauge played for Kiel in the past

HC Motor (UKR) vs RK Celje Pivovarna Laško (SLO)
Thursday 3 December, 18:45 CET, live on EHFTV

• Motor just won the first match against Celje in Slovenia, 32:31
• Celje are on two points after six defeats and one win, against Zagreb
• another win would bring Motor close to qualifying for the play-offs
• the best scorers of both teams are currently on 24 goals: Motor’s Aidenas Malasinskas and Celje’s Patrik Leban
• Motor last won a home game in the EHF Champions League in November 2019, against FC Porto (33:29)
• Celje have won an away game against Motor once, 32:29 in October 2013