Smits and Portner keep Magdeburg’s flame of hope burning

GROUP A
MOTW: SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Telekom Veszprém HC (HUN) 32:25 (16:15) 

• SC Magdeburg tool full control in the first 15 minutes, as goalkeeper Nikola Portner stood like a wall, while his teammates were highly efficient in attack – but after leading 10:6, the gap melted, as Veszprém improved in attack, thanks to Manuel Strlek and Andres Nilsson 
• right after the break, Veszprém managed to level the result for the first time, thanks in part to a goalkeeper change from Vladimir Cupara to Rodrigo Corrales 
• the only reason why the visitors did not take the lead in this crucial period was again, Portner, who returned to the high level he displayed at the start of the match and boosted his side to a 22:19 advantage
• Magdeburg continued to pour it on: a double strike from top scorer, Kay Smits and a counter-attack goal from Lukas Mertens provided the hosts with their first five-goals gap at 25:20; This was followed with Momir Ilic’s last time-out for Veszprém and a direct red card against Dragan Pechmalbec for a foul against Philipp Weber 
• The matched continued with Mike Jensen saving a Mikita Vailupau penalty shot, which was followed by the sixth goal for left wing, Mertens, who played an outstanding second half

Magdeburg have the ace up their sleeve now 

Two rounds before the end of the group phase, Veszprém missed an opportunity to book a direct ticket to the quarter-finals. With Magdeburg's victory, the German side are now equal with Veszprém at 16 points and they have the tiebreaker since the first leg between the two sides resulted in a draw. In the remaining two matches, Magdeburg travel to Zagreb and host Dinamo Bucuresti, while Veszprém have their last home match against Porto and then travel to Paris, the top-ranked side of this group.