A pair of brilliant Jakob Brilla goals helped Rot-Weiss Köln eventually pull clear of a hard-working Slavia Prague, marking their EHL return with a 5-0 Pool B victory.
With the vast majority of play, the final result always looked inevitable but the Czechs managed to hold firm for long periods with goalkeeper Jakub Bogár making a wealth of saves.
The only goal of the first half came in the 24th minute when Christopher Rühr’s trickery saw him eventually work an angle to pass to Paul Glander overloading on the left. He fired in a powerful backhand shot which made its way through the pads of Jakub Bogár.
Otherwise, it was an exercise in frustration for Rot-Weiss for the German side who hit the inside of the post and missed out on a number of big chances to leave it 1-0 at half-time.
Brilla ripped in the second goal midway through Q3 from a corner, his first goal in the EHL and he would later follow it up with another rocket to the top of the net.
Fabio Seitz added the third in between those efforts and Justus Warweg completed the win in the last four minutes with a lovely run and finish.
