Metz Handball celebrated only their second-ever win against Györi Audi ETO KC on Saturday, holding off a late comeback to take a 28:24 victory.
It was the first time Györ have been beaten at home in the EHF Champions League Women since October 2015, when they lost 21:26 to FC Midtjylland. The Hungarian side had problems in attack and could find a solution for Metz's defence and their fastbreak goals.
GROUP B
Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN) vs Metz Handball (FRA) 24:28 (14:18)
- after Metz took a two-goal lead (7:5) at the 10-minute mark it all went downhill for Györ; at one nine minutes without a goal scored at one point of the first half
- Sandra Toft's eight saves in the first half at 31 per cent save efficiency could not help the Hungarian side to close the gap. Silje Solberg took over in the second half and closed the night with another three
- Metz's biggest lead was seven goals and as Györ tried to chase the result, more mistakes kept coming
- Györ finally managed to connect their attack and defence in the last 10 minutes of the match, but it was too late for a comeback
- Chloé Valentini was the top scorer on the French side, scoring seven times, many of which came from fastbreaks
Balanced attack
Even though both teams had similar shot efficiency, Györ having 67 per cent and Metz 65 per cent, the French side secured a win by playing fast. Their style of play allowed them more attempts on the target and many of the goals came from fastbreaks.
Their overall performance was what was in the spotlight while Györ made too many mistakes in their efforts to stop Metz and score more easily. Chloé Valentini’s seven goals were added to by four each from Bruna de Paula, Sarah Bouktit and Kristina Jörgensen.
We prepared our players very well, they were able to be very aggressive in defence and perform well. We did not expect this for how the match would go, but I am really happy that we were able to keep the lead we had at the beginning in the second half as well.
Clearly it was not our day today, and I have no explanation for it. We made a lot of mistakes not just individually but also as a team, the only one positive thing is that we kept fighting.
