Friends and family clash in Nantes for MOTW
Entertainment is guaranteed this Thursday evening when HBC Nantes welcome Barça, making it a clear choice for Match of the Week for round 3 of the EHF Champions League.
The H plays host to a fixture which has already provided plenty of drama in its short history and we can expect more of the same this week.
The MOTW tag means extensive on-court and behind-the-scenes coverage on EHF's social media channels before, during and after the game, which throws off on Thursday at 20:45 CEST and will be streamed live on EHFTV with commentary from Chris O’Reilly.
Sibling rivalry
Barça have won three of the four previous encounters at this level, including two in the 2019 quarter-finals, but Nantes will be inspired by the memories of one of the standout moments in Match of the Week history when they beat Barça 29:25 in front of 10,000 fans at Hall XXL in December 2017.
There are plenty close friends and family facing-off in the clash, most notably the two Entrerrios brothers - Alberto as Nantes coach and Raul as Barça playmaker. As players, they had duelled in the 2011 Champions League final Barcelona vs Ciudad Real, won by Raul.
Elsewhere, HBC players Kiril Lazarov, Eduardo Gurbindo, Valero Rivera and David Balaguer will face their former club and four French players, Ludovic Fabregas, Dika Mem, Timothy N’Guessan and Cedric Sorhaindo, are in the Barça squad.
