Media Information VELUX EHF Champions League Season 2017/18 Group Phase, Round 11 FC Barcelona Lassa (ESP) vs HC Vardar (MKD) Palau Blaugrana (Barcelona, ESP) Saturday 10 February, 18:00 hrs
FC Barcelona Lassa (ESP) vs HC Vardar (MKD) GROUP A Saturday 10 February, 18:00 hrs Playing hall Palau Blaugrana Av. Aristides Maillol, s/n 08028 Barcelona Spain Capacity: 7,250 Round 11 Most Games vs Vardar: Victor Tomas 11 Aitor Arino 6 Raul Entrerrios 6 Viran Morros 6 Jesper Nöddesbo 6 Gonzalo Perez de Vargas 6 Iker Romero 6 Cedric Sorhaindo 6 Most Goals vs Vardar: Victor Tomas 37 Iker Romero 30 Wael Jallouz 25 Kiril Lazarov 22 Laszlo Nagy 21 Domestic league Liga ASOBAL Last 4 games 07/02 vs Huesca W33:20 03/02 @ Puerto Sagunto W29:33 13/12 @ Teucro W28:38 09/12 vs Anaitasuna W38:26 Next game: 14/02 @ Puente Genil Standings as of 10/12 1. FC Barcelona 17 566:390 33 2. Guadalajara 16 451:441 21 3. Ademar Leon 16 451:418 21 4. Granollers 17 490:486 21... 16. Morr. Cangas 16 407:470 6 Spanish Vardar players Arpad Sterbik and Joan Canellas return to home ground as EHF EURO champions - and will face five Barcelona stars, who were teammates during the EHF EURO in Croatia. Third Spaniard in the Vardar squad is 2013 world champion Jorge Maqueda. Eight Barcelona players took medals at the EHF EURO in Croatia: Aitor Arino, Raul Entrerrios, Viran Morros, Gonzalo Perez de Vargas and Valero Rivera gold with Spain, Dika Mem, Timothy N Guessan and Cedric Sorhaindo bronze with France. Canellas was teammate of the Barcelona stars Aron Palmarsson and Wael Jallouz at THW Kiel. Both teams are coached by Spaniards - Xavi Pascual (Barcelona) and Raul Gonzalez (Vardar) - both are parallelly also at the helm at national teams: Pascual is in charge of Romania, Gonzalez was the EHF EURO 2018 participant with FYR Macedonia. Raul Gonzalez will become new coach of Paris Saint- Germain from next season on, one of PSG s new arrivals will be Barcelona s defence specialist Viran Morros. Vardar are the only unbeaten team in the current CL season - with eight wins (including the 27:24 in the first leg) and two draws. The last duel of both sides was the 2017 VELUX EHF FINAL4 semi-final, decided by a buzzer-beater from Luka Cindric (26:25) at Cologne. Vardar never took any point in official matches of European Cup competitions on Spanish ground. Besides their duels with Barcelona, lost at Leon (1999) & Granollers (1998). In home matches against Vardar, Barcelona never gave a point from their hands so far. Three Barca players are in question for the MOTW due to injuries: goalkeeper Perez de Vargas, right back Jure Dolenec and left back N Guessan. Barcelona s Macedonian goalkeeper Borko Ristovski will face his national teammate, Vardar line player Stojanche Stoilov. While Vardar have only once (2017) been part of the VELUX EHF FINAL4, Barcelona (like Kiel) are record holder by six participations, twice (2011 and 2015), the Catalans took the trophy. Including the Match of The Week, Barcelona have three of the remaining four matches on home ground. Barcelona count on players from ten different countries (ESP, ROU, DEN, POR, TUN, SLO, FRA, ISL, MKD, POL), Vardar on players from seven nations (MKD, SRB, CRO, RUS, LAT, BRA, MNE, ESP). Currently top scorers of both sides are French Dika Mem (52 goals for Barcelona) and Montenegrin Vuko Borozan (48 goals for Vardar) - the latter missed the EHF EURO due to a car accident right before the start of the event. 2 Most Games vs Barcelona: Ilija Abutovic 6 Timur Dibirov 6 Igor Karacic 6 Strahinja Milic 6 Alex Dujshebaev 5 Stojanche Stoilov 5 Most Goals vs Barcelona: Timur Dibirov 23 Alex Dujshebaev 20 Igor Karacic 17 Matjaz Brumen 15 Luka Cindric 13 Borko Djordjevic 13 Sergei Gorbok 13 Domestic league SEHA Liga Last 4 games 03/02 @ Presov W22:30 01/02 @ Meshkov D25:25 13/12 @ Gorenje Velenje W24:30 09/12 vs Metalurg W31:24 Next game: 13/02 vs Celje Standings as of 10/12 1. Vardar 13 413:314 37 2. Zagreb 13 379:333 28 3. Celje 13 377:351 26 4. Meshkov Brest 12 349:330 22... 16. Vojvodina 13 315:401 6
Historic encounters in the EC FC Barcelona Lassa vs HC Vardar 9-1-2 (369:296) 19:5 18.10.2003 FC Barcelona vs Vardar Vatrost. Skopje, EHF Champions League Group B 41:19 (19:8) 16.11.2003 Vardar Vatrost. Skopje vs FC Barcelona, EHF Champions League Group B 27:35 (16:14) 09.10.2004 FC Barcelona vs Vardar Vatrost. Skopje, EHF Champions League Group A 31:22 (16:12) 06.11.2004 Vardar Vatrost. Skopje vs FC Barcelona, EHF Champions League Group A 12:26 (8:15) 11.11.2009 HC Vardar PRO Skopje vs FC Barcelona Borges, EHF Champions League Group D 28:35 (17:16) 21.11.2009 FC Barcelona Borges vs HC Vardar PRO Skopje, EHF Champions League Group D 35:28 (15:13) 21.09.2013 HC Vardar Skopje vs FC Barcelona, VELUX EHF Champions League Group C 29:29 (15:19) 30.11.2013 FC Barcelona vs HC Vardar Skopje, VELUX EHF Champions League Group C 30:23 (14:11) 14.11.2015 FC Barcelona Lassa vs HC Vardar, VELUX EHF Champions League Group B 31:30 (16:13) 22.11.2015 HC Vardar vs FC Barcelona Lassa, VELUX EHF Champions League Group B 25:27 (15:12) 03.06.2017 HC Vardar vs FC Barcelona Lassa, VELUX EHF Champions League FINAL4 Semi-final 26:25 (13:12) 14.10.2017 HC Vardar vs FC Barcelona Lassa, VELUX EHF Champions League Group A 27:24 (16:12) Details of the last HC Vardar vs FC Barcelona Lassa match: 14.10.2017 (Skopje, MKD) (VELUX EHF Champions League, Group A) 27:24 (16:12) Referees: Vaidas Mazeika/Mindaugas Gatelis (Lithuania). Suspensions: 10 6 (Stoilov 2, Kristopans 2, Ferreira Moraes 2, Maqueda Pena 2, Marsenic 2 Entrerrios 2, Sorhaindo 2, Hernandez Borges 2 ). Number of 7m: 4/1 5/5. Attendance: 5,500. Arpad Sterbik Capar Strahinja Milic - Stojanche Stoilov Vlado Nedanovski Dainis Kristopans Rogerio Ferreira Moraes (1) Jorge Maqueda Pena (5) Igor Karacic (1) Ilija Abutovic Joan Cañellas (1) Luka Cindric (4) Ivan Cupic (2) Timur Dibirov (4) Daniil Shishkarev (3) Vuko Borozan (6) Mijajlo Marsenic Gonzalo Perez de Vargas Borko Ristovski - (3) Victor Tomas (5) Raul Entrerrios Cedric Sorhaindo Aitor Arino (8) Valero Rivera (1) Timothey N guessan (1) Kamil Syprzak Alexis Hernandez Borges (2) Jure Dolenec (2) Dika Mem Viran Morros Yanis Lenne Aleix Gomez (2) Wael Jallouz 3
Most Goals in one game FC Barcelona Lassa vs HC Vardar: Wael Jallouz 12 14.11.2015 FC Barcelona Lassa-HC Vardar 31:30 Iker Romero 8 06.11.2004 Vardar Vatrost. Skopje-FC Barcelona 12:26 Mikkel Hansen 8 11.11.2009 HC Vardar PRO Skopje-FC Barcelona Borges 28:35 Victor Tomas 8 21.11.2009 FC Barcelona Borges-HC Vardar PRO Skopje 35:28 Siarhei Rutenka 8 21.09.2013 HC Vardar Skopje-FC Barcelona 29:29 Wael Jallouz 8 22.11.2015 HC Vardar-FC Barcelona Lassa 25:27 Valero Rivera 8 14.10.2017 HC Vardar-FC Barcelona Lassa 27:24 Most Goals in one game HC Vardar vs FC Barcelona Lassa: Ivan Markovski 10 09.10.2004 FC Barcelona-Vardar Vatrost. Skopje 31:22 Borko Djordjevic 9 11.11.2009 HC Vardar PRO Skopje-FC Barcelona Borges 28:35 Timur Dibirov 8 21.09.2013 HC Vardar Skopje-FC Barcelona 29:29 Sergei Gorbok 8 14.11.2015 FC Barcelona Lassa-HC Vardar 31:30 Igor Karacic 7 21.09.2013 HC Vardar Skopje-FC Barcelona 29:29 Ivan Cupic 7 03.06.2017 HC Vardar-FC Barcelona Lassa 26:25 Alex Dujshebaev 7 03.06.2017 HC Vardar-FC Barcelona Lassa 26:25 Last Ten Games in VELUX EHF Champions League: FC Barcelona Lassa: current run lost one 17.09.2017 Mannheim GER @ Rhein-Neckar Löwen GER D 31:31 23.09.2017 Barcelona ESP vs IFK Kristianstad SWE W 31:29 01.10.2017 Płock POL @ Orlen Wisla Plock POL W 30:37 07.10.2017 Barcelona ESP vs HBC Nantes FRA W 31:25 14.10.2017 Skopje MKD @ HC Vardar MKD L 27:24 04.11.2017 Barcelona ESP vs HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb CRO W 32:22 12.11.2017 Barcelona ESP vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen GER D 26:26 19.11.2017 Szeged HUN @ MOL-Pick Szeged HUN L 31:28 23.11.2017 Zagreb CRO @ HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb CRO W 24:32 02.12.2017 Nantes FRA @ HBC Nantes FRA L 29:25 HC Vardar: current run unbeaten 15 17.09.2017 Płock POL @ Orlen Wisla Plock POL W 22:26 23.09.2017 Skopje MKD vs HBC Nantes FRA W 27:23 01.10.2017 Skopje MKD vs HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb CRO W 28:21 07.10.2017 Szeged HUN @ MOL-Pick Szeged HUN D 26:26 14.10.2017 Skopje MKD vs FC Barcelona Lassa ESP W 27:24 04.11.2017 Kristianstad SWE @ IFK Kristianstad SWE W 23:26 11.11.2017 Zagreb CRO @ HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb CRO W 23:29 18.11.2017 Skopje MKD vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen GER W 30:26 26.11.2017 Mannheim GER @ Rhein-Neckar Löwen GER D 21:21 02.12.2017 Skopje MKD vs IFK Kristianstad SWE W 31:15 4
FC Barcelona Lassa vs Macedonian clubs 12-1-3 Season Opponent Home Away Competition 2003/04 Vardar Vatrost. Skopje 41:19 35:27 EHF Champions League Group B 2004/05 Vardar Vatrost. Skopje 31:22 26:12 EHF Champions League Group A 2008/09 HC Metalurg 30:19 29:22 EHF Champions League Group C 2009/10 HC Vardar PRO Skopje 35:28 35:28 EHF Champions League Group D 2013/14 HC Vardar Skopje 30:23 29:29 VELUX EHF Champions League Group C 2013/14 HC Metalurg 35:17 29:31 VELUX EHF Champions League Group C 2015/16 HC Vardar 31:30 27:25 VELUX EHF Champions League Group B 2016/17 HC Vardar 25:26 VELUX EHF FINAL4 Semi-final 2017/18 HC Vardar 24:27 VELUX EHF Champions League Group A HC Vardar vs Spanish clubs 4-1-15 Season Opponent Home Away Competition 1994/95 BM Granollers 35:31 23:34 EHF Cup Qualification Round 2 1998/99 Prosesa Ademar Leon 27:29 20:35 Cup Winners Cup Semi-final 2003/04 FC Barcelona 27:35 19:41 EHF Champions League Group B 2004/05 FC Barcelona 12:26 22:31 EHF Champions League Group A 2007/08 C.BM. Ademar Leon 29:28 21:28 EHF Champions League Group C 2009/10 Reale Ademar 24:31 28:37 EHF Champions League Group D 2009/10 FC Barcelona Borges 28:35 28:35 EHF Champions League Group D 2013/14 FC Barcelona 29:29 23:30 VELUX EHF Champions League Group C 2015/16 FC Barcelona Lassa 25:27 30:31 VELUX EHF Champions League Group B 2016/17 FC Barcelona Lassa 26:25 VELUX EHF FINAL4 Semi-final 2017/18 FC Barcelona Lassa 27:24 VELUX EHF Champions League Group A 5
FC Barcelona Lassa players career statistics against HC Vardar Goalkeeper GP W D L G AVG HI PIM Galve Gerard Forns ESP 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Gonzalo Perez de Vargas ESP 6 4 0 2 0 0,00 0 0 Jorge Perez Molina ESP 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Borko Ristovski MKD 3 1 0 2 0 0,00 0 0 Player GP W D L G AVG HI PIM Lasse Bredekjaer Andersson DEN 2 1 0 1 13 6,50 10 2 Aitor Arino Bengoechea ESP 6 3 1 2 3 0,50 1 (3) 0 Iosif Andrei Buzle ROU 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Jure Dolenec SLO 5 0 1 4 17 3,40 5 0 Raul Entrerrios ESP 6 3 1 2 15 2,50 5 (2) 6 Aleix Gomez ESP 1 0 0 1 0 0,00 0 0 Alexis Hernandez Borges POR 1 0 0 1 0 0,00 0 2 Wael Jallouz TUN 4 2 0 2 25 6,25 12 0 Yanis Lenne FRA 1 0 0 1 0 0,00 0 0 Dika Mem FRA 2 0 0 2 4 2,00 2 (2) 0 Viran Morros ESP 6 3 1 2 1 0,17 1 8 Timothey N guessan FRA 2 0 0 2 4 2,00 3 2 Aron Palmarsson ISL 4 3 1 0 14 3,50 7 2 Valero Rivera Folch ESP 4 2 0 2 17 4,25 8 2 Cedric Sorhaindo FRA 6 3 1 2 4 0,67 2 8 Kamil Syprzak POL 6 3 0 3 15 2,50 4 (2) 10 Victor Tomas Gonzalez ESP 11 8 1 2 37 3,36 8 4 Pere Vaquer Grimalt ESP 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Lasse Bredekjaer Andersson (KIF Kolding Kobenhavn 2015/16); Jure Dolenec (Montpellier Agglomeration HB 2014/15, Montpellier HB 2015/16); Aron Palmarsson (THW Kiel 2009/10, MVM Veszprém 2015/16); Borko Ristovski (Rhein-Neckar Löwen 2015/16); Kamil Syprzak (Orlen Wisla Plock 2014/15) New trophy for the Matches of the Week: Player of the Match From the first round of the VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18 Group Phase a new player s award have been introduced for the Matches of the Week. EHF Marketing have prepared a trophy called Player of the Match which will be presented and handed over by different sponsors throughout the season. Awardees: Round 1: Hendrik Pekeler (Rhein-Neckar Löwen) Round 2: Slawomir Szmal (PGE VIVE Kielce) Round 3: Mattias Andersson (SG Flensburg-Handewitt) Round 4: Roland Mikler (Telekom Veszprém HC) Round 5: Buster Juul-Lassen Engelbrecht (Aalborg Handbold) Round 6: Niklas Landin (THW Kiel) Round 7: Nikola Karabatic (Paris Saint-Germain Handball) Round 8: Vuko Borozan (HC Vardar) Round 9: Thierry Omeyer (Paris Saint-Germain Handball) Round 10: Cyril Dumoulin (HBC Nantes) 6
HC Vardar players career statistics against FC Barcelona Lassa Goalkeeper GP W D L G AVG HI PIM Daniel Gjorgjeski MKD 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Marko Kizic MKD 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Strahinja Milic SRB 6 2 1 3 0 0,00 0 0 Arpad Sterbik ESP 9 6 0 3 0 0,00 0 0 Player GP W D L G AVG HI PIM Ilija Abutovic SRB 6 2 1 3 3 0,50 2 2 Vuko Borozan MNE 2 2 0 0 11 5,50 6 0 Joan Cañellas ESP 7 4 0 3 21 3,00 6 (2) 2 Luka Cindric CRO 5 3 0 2 20 4,00 7 0 Ivan Cupic CRO 9 4 2 3 39 4,33 10 2 Timur Dibirov RUS 7 2 1 4 28 4,00 8 2 Rogerio Ferreira Moraes BRA 3 3 0 0 1 0,33 1 2 Igor Karacic CRO 6 2 1 3 17 2,83 7 2 Dainis Kristopans LAT 1 1 0 0 0 0,00 0 2 Jorge Maqueda ESP 4 2 0 2 9 2,25 5 10 Mijajlo Marsenic SRB 4 2 0 2 2 0,50 1 (2) 4 Vlado Nedanovski MKD 6 1 0 5 0 0,00 0 0 Toshe Onchev MKD 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Martin Popovski MKD 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Daniil Shishkarev RUS 5 2 0 3 8 1,60 3 (2) 0 Stojanche Stoilov MKD 6 2 1 3 0 0,00 0 4 Janja Vojvodic SRB 0 0 0 0 0 0,00 0 0 Joan Cañellas Reixach (Renovalia Ciudad Real 2010/11, BM Atletico Madrid 2012/13, THW Kiel 2015/16); Luka Cindric (HC Metalurg 2013/14); Ivan Cupic (Rhein-Neckar Löwen 2010/11, KS Vive Targi Kielce 2012/13, KS Vive Tauron Kielce 2014/15, KS Vive Tauron Kielce 2015/16); Timur Dibirov (Chekhovskie Medvedi 2009/10); Rogerio Ferreira Moraes (THW Kiel 2015/16); Igor Karacic (HC Bosna BH Gas Sarajevo DNP); Vlado Nedanovski (HC Metalurg 2008/09); Daniil Shishkarev (Zarja Kaspija Astrakhan 2007/08 DNP, Chekhovskie Medvedi 2009/10); Arpad Sterbik Capar (Fotex KC Veszprém 2003/04, BM Ciudad Real 2004/05 DNP, BM Ciudad Real 2005/06, BM Ciudad Real 2008/09, Renovalia Ciudad Real 2010/11 DNP); Stojanche Stoilov (HC Metalurg 2008/09) VELUX EHF Champions League 2017/18 - MOTW #11 Media Information by EHF Media & Communications, 8/2/2018 Contributors: Björn Pazen, Roy Knoppert 7