Barça 38-30 RK Celje: Still unbeaten

Three in a row. Barça beat a brave RK Celje 38-30 at the Palau Blaugrana to remain unbeaten in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League. The Slovenian side fought to take the lead but Barça came back to win, with Dika Mem and Wanne top scoring.

Barça start strongly

Faced by a young lively team, Barça took advantage of their misses, with goals by Wanne, N'Guessan and Ludovic Fabregas helping establish a +5 lead by the 10th minute. This only spurred on RK Celje who picked up the pace, showing aggression in defence and a strong attack, reducing the lead to only two. Barça responded, however, with a superb Dika Mem, a speedy Wanne and concentrated rearguard action to take a 19-15 lead at half time. 

Slovenians strike but Barça come back again

Driven on by goalkeeper Gaberšek, Celje found another gear, managing to take a one goal lead. Both teams were standing tall but the home side again came back and pulled away through Nielsen, Richardson, Wanne and Carlsbogard. A 5-0 partial score helped extend the lead to +9, before the game ended comfortably, final score: 38-30. 

After winning all six possible points in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League Group B, Barça next face Bidasoa Irún at home in the Liga ASOBAL (Saturday October 1,4.15pm CEST, and hopefully the winning run continues.

GAME STATS

Barça, 38
RK Celje, 30

Barça: Pérez de Vargas (-), N'guessan (3), Dika Mem (10), Wanne (7), Ludovic Fabregas (3), Blaz Janc (1) and Cindric (1) - starting seven - Nielsen (-), Thiagus Petrus (1), Frade (1), Richardson (3), Carlsbogard (1), Aleix Gómez (4), Makuc (-), Ariño (-) and Langaro (3)
RK Celje: Belkaied (-), Mlakar (1), Ivankovic (7), Marguc (6), Mazej (3), Strmljan (1) and Žabic (2) - starting seven - Gaberšek (-), Vlah (6), Suholežnik (2), Martinovic (1) and Mitja Janc (1)

Partial scores: 4-2; 9-4; 11-8; 14-11; 15-13; 19-15 // 22-19; 24-24; 26-26; 30-27; 34-28; 38-30

Referees: Kursad Erdogan and Ibrahim Özdeniz