Vive Tauron Kielce beat at home Kadetten Schaffhausen 33:24 (14:12). After a quite poor first half, Polish champions improved their attitude and significantly outplayed the Swiss team.
Kielce started the first half pretty well – they looked strong in defence and took the lead very soon. After 10 minutes the result was 6:4. It could have been much better for Kielce but their attack was somewhat disappointing. There were quite a few missed throws, attacking fouls, losses; there was also well-playing Nikola Portner in the Kadetten goal. Kielce attack kept getting worse and after two unsuccessful attempts, Manuel Liniger equalized in 13. minute at 7:7, and a minute later he gave his team the lead. The teams surged back and forth for a couple of minutes but in 20. minute Kielce retook the lead (10:9). It was still on the edge though. The Polish team had difficulties with breaking through Swiss defence, the referees often called for passive play. In spite of such horrible attack, Kielce lead at the break 14:12. They owed it mostly to Szmal who denied Kadetten an equalizer in the last minute.
The second half opened for the guests a bit unfortunately. In the first seconds Aleksandar Stojanović made an attacking foul and spend a moment lying on the floor after he hit into Piotr Grabarczyk. Right after that his team lost 2 goals and Kielce lead 16:12 (32. minute). The joy of the Polish crowd didn’t last long though as Kadetten also managed to score 2 quick goals and the gap numbered only 2 goals again. Kielce had a chance to make it bigger again because Stojanović got the first 2-minute suspension of the game but they blew it due to their own mistakes. They soon got another chance because coach Baur decided to enter a libero – two lost balls, two throws from Čupić and Šego, and the idea was given up. It turned out to be a crucial moment of the game because Kielce stormed ahead. In the space of about 4 minutes the lead increased to 7 goals (24:17, 43. minute) but again it was reduced by the Swiss team. Liniger scored 3 times in a row but the advantage was already too big for it to make a difference. Polish team started working well again and backed by saves of Šego, was able to win their seventh Champions League game.
In the last match of the Group D, French Dunkerque earned away victory against Aalborg 28:25.
STANDINGS:
| 1. KS Vive Tauron Kielce | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 221 | : | 186 | (35) | 14 |
| 2. MOL-Pick Szeged | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 198 | : | 182 | (16) | 12 |
| 3. Aalborg Handball | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 178 | : | 185 | (-7) | 5 |
| 4. HC Motor Zaporozhye | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 191 | : | 195 | (-4) | 4 |
| 5. Dunkerque HB Grand Littora… | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 165 | : | 173 | (-8) | 4 |
| 6. Kadetten Schaffhausen | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 182 | : | 214 | (-32) | 3 |
MARTYNA USNARSKA
