Hometown Victory for HC LINZ AG in First Leg of EHF European Cup 2nd Round

HC LINZ AG celebrated a 27:26 home win in the first leg of the 2nd round of the EHF European Cup. The second leg takes place next Saturday in Greece.

Right from the start you can notice the special atmosphere in the hall in the European Cup: The Linzers go into this first leg in the 2nd round of the EHF European Cup full of emotion, speed and fight. And they are starting well in this game – although still without Paulnsteiner and Fizuleto: in attack they have a plus-two lead after the first few minutes and are particularly agile and varied in attack. After twelve minutes, Silas Wiesinger can already make it 9:5. It continues in this key, but problems in the cover prevent an even higher lead. Linz goes into the break with a 16:12 lead.

In the second half, it is important not only to keep the butter from our bread, but also to extend the lead even further in order to have a bigger cushion for the second leg in Greece: But the Greeks make things much more difficult for the Linz team in the second half play their way back up to minus two. Linz is now having a harder time finding their way through AC PAOK’s good, aggressive coverage and the Greeks are also getting better at adjusting to the backcourt line with Grgic and Hamzic. In the end it gets tight again: two minutes before the final whistle, the Greeks score 25:26, and in the end Linz celebrates a narrow 27:26 home win. The second leg will take place in Greece in a week: the team will leave for Salonika on Friday, the game starts at 5:00 p.m. Austrian time.

David Zwicklhuber: “We went into the game at 120 percent and got off to a good start. Unfortunately we got a bit nervous in the second half and the lead disappeared, but we won, that’s what counts. We just have to really step on the gas in the second leg, then there’s a lot we can do.”

EHF European Cup | 2nd round | First leg

HC LINZ AG vs. PAOK Thessaloniki 27:26 (16:12)

Linz throwers: Grgic (11), Böhm (4), Hamzic (4), Kislinger (2), Ghent (2), Wiesinger (2), Bachmann (1), Stojanovic (1)

Best thrower S: Kalomoiros (6)

2023-10-14 22:02:35
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