First EHF European Cup Men teams book round 2 seats after exciting weekend

• Tallinna Mistra were the first team to book their place for round 2 after beating KH Vëllaznimi 76:45 on aggregate; Mistra’s duo on the wing, Patrick Padjus and Alvar Soikka, were the side's top scorers with 13 and 14 goals over the weekend, respectively

• Swiss side BSV Bern also secured progression similarly, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 79:50 on aggregate; right wing Nils Kiener scored 16 goals, including a 10/11 performance in the second leg

• SC Kelag Ferlach put in two solid performances (27:23 and 29:22) in front of their home crowd against Kyndil from the Faroe Islands; the Austrian side dominated in the early phases of the matches, leading 7:3 and 10:3 in the 15th minute of each tie

• RK Gorenje Velenje returned to the European Cup after three seasons and will continue their journey to round 2; the Slovenian side beat Parnassos Strovolou in a double-header at home, 71:42 on aggregate; the first leg on Saturday was a dominant 38:18 performance with goalkeeper Luka Sandic collecting 18 saves at 50 per cent efficiency

• Holon Yuvalim HC beat Teamnetwork Albatro Siracusa 65:55 on aggregate; while the Israeli side dominated most of the first leg, leading by up to 12 goals, the home side from Italy cut the deficit to only four goals going into the second leg; it was close until shortly after half-time, when Siracusa went scoreless for 17 minutes, allowing Holon to run away and take a comfortable win

• A.C. PAOK beat HB Dudelange in both ties in Luxembourg (33:28 and 29:21), taking a dominant 62:49 victory on aggregate; the Greek side relied on their squad width as 10 players scored in the first leg, while 11 scored in the return leg, as well as on their excellent goalkeeper duo, Igor Arsic and Ahmed Khalil, who combined for 29 saves

• Czech side MRK Trogir beat VIF from the Faroe Islands in two closely fought matches, celebrating 59:50 on aggregate (25:20 and 34:30); former German Bundesliga player Šime Ivic showed his qualities by scoring eight goals from as many attempts in the second leg

Thriller in Serbia decided by turnovers

The fans in Serbia experienced a thrilling Saturday evening, as hosts RK Dubocica 54 met Alpla HC Hard from Austria. In the first quarter of the match, neither side could gain a significant advantage. Shortly before half-time, Alpla Hard took a four-goal lead — the highest score difference until then — but could not keep that momentum going throughout the second half.

Dubocica made their guests pay for too many turnovers and were able to keep the match close. Both teams traded leads from the 34th minute right until the final buzzer, with Dubocica taking a narrow 34:33 win, as the Austrian side committed another technical fault in their last attack — heir ninth of the match, compared to only three from Dubocica. The sides meet again next Saturday in Austria in what should be another exciting match.

Photos © RK Gorenje Velenje (main), MRK Trogir/Josko Herceg (feature in-text)