Sporting claimed a dramatic victory over Denmark’s Aalborg Handball on Thursday night, winning 35-33 in the 12th round of the Handball Champions League at Pavilhão João Rocha. The Lisbon side, who were already qualified for the play-offs, spent most of the match trailing but finished strong, pulling off an impressive turnaround.
After trailing by five goals at halftime, Sporting turned the tide in the second half.
The Portuguese mega-talent Francisco "Kiko" Costa enjoyed a terrific night to ensure that Sporting got back into the match. The 21-year-old right-back scored almost at will, as the Portuguese gradually narrowed the Danish lead.
The same Costa was also the architect behind Portugal's victory over Denmark at last month's European Championship final round, where the Danes ended up winning the title.
And when Francisco went a little cold at the very end of the match, his older brother Martim Costa took over and put the final nail in the Aalborg coffin.
With the defeat, Aalborg failed to make the most of the opportunity to take over first place in the Champions League's group A. Earlier on Thursday, Füchse Berlin had lost to Polish outfit Kielce despite ten goals from Mathias Gidsel.
With a win, Aalborg could have overtaken Füchse Berlin. Aalborg can, however, take joy from the fact that the club is guaranteed a direct ticket to the quarter-finals and thus avoids the playoff round, which the teams between third and sixth place have to go through.