The meeting between Motor and Europharm Pelister will take place on Tuesday, November 29, in Germany. The fight starts at 19.45 Kyiv time.
After three defeats at the start of the EHF European League group tournament, Motor found itself in a rather unenviable position in the standings. At the moment, the wards of Gintaras Savukinas close the standings and do not have any points scored. Now the Cossacks need to correct the situation and the first step in this regard should be taken today in a home match against the North Macedonian Europharm Pelister.
At the moment, two trios of teams have clearly stood out in sextet D. The first includes the German Fühse Berlin, the Danish Skanderborg Aarhus, and the Spanish Bidasoa. These clubs have a stronger selection of performers and show a good level of handball. It is very likely that they will play for the final places from first to third. The second trio includes today’s opponents and the Portuguese “Aguas-Santas”. These teams are inferior to the above and, apparently, will fight for the last, fourth pass to the playoffs. So today’s match between direct rivals to advance from the group will have an increased tournament value.
Sevoromakedonian Europharm Pelister is the oldest handball club in its country. It was founded back in 1946. During its long history, the team from the city of Bitola became the champion of Macedonia 14 times (including the period when the country was part of Yugoslavia), and the last of these titles dates back to 2005.
After that, the club for a long time was behind the backs of two local giants – Vardar and Metallurg. However, after finding new sponsors and a significant improvement in the budget, Motor’s rival recently reached a new level for itself. The oblivion of Metallurg also contributed to this. At the moment, Europharm Pelister is confidently in the top 2 of the local club handball. However, handball players from Bitola have never succeeded in throwing “Vardar” from the inner throne. Europharm finished the last championship 2021/2022 in the already familiar second place.
This result allowed the team from North Macedonia to get into the group round of the EHF European League without selection. The tournament for Europharm began with a home defeat against the Danish Skanderborg – 27:30, followed by an away victory over the Portuguese club Aguas-Santas – 29:27, and the third European Cup result was another home fiasco from the German Fühse Berlin – 34:43.
It is worth noting that two former Motor players play in the North Macedonian team. These are linemen Denis Vasilyev and Zharko Peshevsky. The latter is also the best scorer of his club in the EHF European League, he scored fourteen goals.
Champions of Ukraine last weekend missed the battles in the second German Bundesliga and had the opportunity to purposefully prepare for the confrontation with the Balkan club. And there will really be something to fight for today. In case of defeat, Zaporizhzhya will fall far behind the passing fourth place and then they will have a hard pursuit of their opponents in the second round of the group stage. A victory over a direct competitor, on the contrary, will significantly increase the chances of our club to get out of sextet D. Surely, the players and the coaching staff of Motor understand this, so we expect a selfless game from the Ukrainian team today and a hard fight until the very final whistle.
Teams
Games
victories
Draws
Defeats
balls
Difference
Glasses
1. Fuchse Berlin
3
3
0
0
115:90
+25
6
2. Skanderborg Aarhus
3
3
0
0
101:83
+18
6
3. Bidasoa
3
2
0
1
90:82
+8
4
4. Eurofarm Pelister
3
1
0
2
90:100
-10
2
5. Aguash-Santash
3
0
0
2
78:98
-20
0
6. Engine
3
0
0
2
80:101
-21
0
Aroged forecast: victory of “Motor”
