Barcelona string together 20 straight Champions League wins, Vardar lose by one goal again, and Alkaloid head to Vienna with a nine-goal cushion

Barcelona: 20 wins in a row, and Gidsel "only" eight goals

Barcelona beat Dinamo in Bucharest by 14 goals and reached a 20th consecutive win in the EHF Champions League - and an early place in the main round. The French trio of Dika Mem, Ludovic Fàbregas and Timothey N'Guessan scored 12 of the Catalan side's first 21 goals. Füchse Berlin also made the main round, with 15 goals from Tim Freihöfer against Porto, as did Sporting, who comfortably beat Pick Szeged. Mathias Gidsel, who the previous week equalled the competition record with 17 goals, finished this time with "only" eight. When eight goals is news because it's so few, it's clear what level the top of European handball is playing at.

Nexe shake up Group A, the region topples favourites

In the third round of the group stage of the EHF European League, Croatia's Nexe won away at Elverum and handed the Norwegians their first defeat of the season, even though Kevin Gulliksen scored 15 for them. The winning goal came from a seven-metre throw by Tin Lučin, who had nine in total. Zagreb's Sesvete beat Germany's Bergischer 37-31 for their first European win of the season, and Izviđač from Bosnia and Herzegovina beat CSM Bucharest 25-24 away. The region showed once again that in handball, names on paper don't win games on their own.

Reistad gives her future club 10 goals, Krim end the losing streak

Norway's Henny Reistad, who moves to Brest next summer, scored 10 goals against her future club and led Esbjerg to a 35-26 win in the match of the round in the women's Champions League. Ferencváros, 39-25 winners over Dortmund, reached their 150th win in the elite competition and are the only team with a perfect record. For the region the more important game was in Ljubljana: Nina Zulić scored in the final seconds for Krim's 24-23 win over Budućnost, ending the Slovenian club's run of ten defeats stretching back to last season. Jovana Skrobić had eight goals for Budućnost, but the Montenegrin side left empty-handed.

Alkaloid head to Vienna nine goals up, Butel must chase three

Alkaloid ran over Austria's Ferlach 31-22 in the first leg of the second round of the EHF European Cup at Avtokomanda. Kiril Lazarov's side led 16-11 at half-time and never let the game slip. Marko Mitev scored seven, Nikola Kosteski six, and goalkeeper Ivan Galevski made ten saves. The return leg is on 24 October. Butel Skopje, meanwhile, lost 27-24 away at Gorica, despite leading 17-16 early in the second half - a three-goal deficit they'll have to overturn in front of their own fans. Next weekend Ohrid, the defending champions, also begin their title defence against Turkey's Spor Toto, with both legs at home.

Vardar lose by one goal again: zero points after four rounds

Vardar gave Polish giants Wisła Płock a hard time but lost 33-32 - a fourth defeat in as many Champions League games, the third by a single goal. The Skopje side trailed 6-14 in the first half, closed to three goals by the break and spent the entire second half chasing without managing to equalise; at 19-21 they also missed a seven-metre throw. Jaka Malus scored nine, Vukašin Vorkapić eight. "We've lost three games by one goal each, that hurts. We're a young team, with a young coach," said coach Ivan Čupić. Youth is an explanation, but in a group where Wisła and Nantes have six points each and Vardar have zero, how long will it remain a consolation? Next up is the trip to Nantes on 21 October.