Aalborg stop Sporting's run; first points for Nantes and GOG
Last year's semi-finalists HBC Nantes finally took their first points of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 season in round 3 on Wednesday when the French side clearly beat Kolstad Håndbold 39:24. Also in group A, Aalborg Håndbold handed Sporting Clube de Portugal their first defeat of the season with a strong display on home court in Denmark, 35:30. Dinamo Bucuresti showed a brave performance at home against One Veszprém HC, but could not surprise the team from their former head coach, Xavi Pascual, losing 30:27. Over in group B, GOG left wing Frederik Bjerre scored a stunning 13 times to help the Danish side get the better of HC Eurofarm Pelister in the second half, 31:28.
It was a tough fight where both teams played very physically and made it difficult for each other. But I think we managed to control the game very well from the beginning to the end and I am very satisfied about our own performance.
Aalborg deserved the victory, it was a difficult game for us. It was difficult for us to stop their shooting from a long distance and we struggled a bit. We did the best we could but it was unfortunately not enough today.
We have changed the coach at the start of the season, we have many new players, we have to continue to work hard. We played very well, we have improved a lot. We have to work even harder, it is the only solution. We have to start winning because we have three matches and zero points and if we want to achieve our objective, to qualify further, we have to start winning.
The most important thing is that we took two more points. It is not easy to play here, in the Dinamo Hall. I think Dinamo played their best game this season. In the second half, our defence was better and made the difference.
We are really happy with this first win in the Champion League. The defensive performance combined with fast breaks was of very high quality tonight. We also had some key saves that really helped us. It gives us confidence to keep going like this.
Nantes played great in defence. They managed to take out our strengths. We failed in our game plan tonight and Nantes punished us hard with fast breaks.
Tonight we played three matches in just one match. We started very well, we followed the tactical ideas at the beginning and it worked. Then they changed the match, started with a new attack and started playing directly with many one-on-one situations and that made a difference. It took us a long time to get used to that kind of game. We forgot our tactical movements and then we woke up late and realised that we had to defend harder. When we understood that, it was already too late.
It is very difficult to play here, in this hall. We can't hear nothing, we play on our body language. The home team players gave 120 per cent, but we had the answers. This win can give us a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.
