Eight teams are on to the quarter-finals of the EHF European League Men 2020/2021, after an entertaining Last 16 phase, which featured impressive wins by the favourites of the eight matchups.

Three German teams and one from Denmark, Poland, France, Sweden and Russia complete the quarter-finals bracket, which will take place on 13 and 20 April.

While German favourites Füchse Berlin and SC Magdeburg had no trouble disposing of their opponents, Rhein-Neckar Löwen, the other German group winner, had to sweat before clinching a 54:52 aggregate win against Croatian team RK Nexe.

Füchse won the first leg against Austrian club Fivers, 35:27, while the second leg was awarded to the German side, 10:0, after several COVID-19 positive cases throughout the Austrian side. 

Meanwhile, Magdeburg secured the clearest aggregate win of the Last 16 stage, 67:48, against North Macedonian team HC Eurofarm Pelister.

Left wing Emil Jakobsen scored ten times, while Mathias Gidsel added 18 goals in two games for Danish side GOG, who disposed of HC CSKA, 68:61, on aggregate, in a high-octane doubleheader, which finished as the highest scoring tie of the Last 16.

Jakobsen, who has scored 99 goals this season, is still the top scorer of the competition.

After both games were moved to Sweden due to several positive COVID-19 cases at Abanca Ademar Leon, IFK Kristianstad took advantage and surprised the Spanish side with two wins, cruising to a crucial 68:58 aggregate win, to secure their best-ever European performance in their history.

Russian side Chekhovskie medvedi are also back in the higher echelons of a European competition after securing a spot in the EHF FINAL 4 in the 2009/10 season, after a comprehensive win on aggregate, 54:49, against French side USAM Nimes Gard.

The only French side still alive in the competition, Montpellier HB, shrugged off a 27:27 draw at home in the first leg of the Last 16 phase against Kadetten Schaffhausen, to jump to a 32:25 win in the away leg. Wings Yanis Lenne and Hugo Descat combined for 14 goals in this win.

But the most entertaining matchup was the one between Polish powerhouse Orlen Wisla Plock and Portuguese side Sporting CP. Plock took a convincing 29:25 win on Portuguese soil in the first leg and were looking like huge favourites to proceed to the next phase. Yet Sporting bounced back and cancelled a four-goal deficit in the first half, boasting their own four-goal lead, 28:24, with two minutes to go. Plock left wing Przemyslaw Krajewski scored the last goal of the game to prevent an extra-time decider, as Sporting could only muster a 28:25 win.

Plock will now meet GOG in the quarter-finals, with the headliner of the phase being the matchup between Montpellier and Füchse Berlin.

Magdeburg, who have won 11 out of the 12 games this season in the competition, will be favourites against IFK Kristianstad, while the third German team Rhein-Neckar Löwen will face Chekhovskie Medvedi.

EHF European League Men – Last 16:
M01: Sporting CP (POR) vs ORLEN Wisla Plock (POL) 53:54 on aggregate
M02: Fivers (AUT) vs Füchse Berlin (GER) 27:45 on aggregate
M03: RK Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) vs SC Magdeburg (GER) 48:67 on aggregate
M04: RK Nexe (CRO) vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER) 52:54 on aggregate
M05: IFK Kristianstad (SWE) vs Abanca Ademar Leon (ESP) 68:58 on aggregate
M06: Chekhovskie Medvedi (RUS) vs USAM Nimes Gard (FRA) 54:49 on aggregate
M07: GOG (DEN) vs CSKA Moscow (RUS) 68:61 on aggregate
M08: Montpellier HB (FRA) vs Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) 59:52 on aggregate

EHF European League Men – Quarter-finals:
GOG (DEN) vs ORLEN Wisla Plock (POL)
Montpellier HB (FRA) vs Füchse Berlin (GER)
IFK Kristianstad (SWE) vs SC Magdeburg (GER)
Chekhovskie Medvedi (RUS) vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER)

Click here for more information about the EHF European League Men 2020/2021.

Photo: IFK Kristianstad