This Saturday, Benfica beat Kriens-Luzern (31-24), from Switzerland, while Águas Santas drew with La Rioja (26-26), from Spain, in the first leg of the first qualifying round for the European League of handball.
The team led by Chema Rodríguez had a relatively easy task, in Switzerland, facing the third-placed team in the last edition of the Swiss championship and at half-time they were already winning by 17-13.
In the second 30 minutes, the reds were even more comfortable and shot to differences of seven and eight goals, with Ole Rahmel and Petar Djordjic – seven goals each, standing out in the Portuguese.
More balanced was the meeting of Águas Santas, who led the first half until very close to the rest (12-14) and would give a better response in the second half, almost winning, at a time when they led by 26-25.
With nine accurate shots, João Gomes was the Portuguese team’s top scorer, which is trying, along with Benfica, to access the second round, in which another Portuguese team, Sporting, is already present.
The draw for the second qualifying round of the European League, which will include the 16 winners of the first phase matches and eight clubs already qualified, takes place on 7 September.
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