Nantes secured a 32:30 win in Portugal, after their 28:27 home victory in the first leg.
The French side will get to know their semi-final opponents on Friday 2 May at 14:00 CEST at the draw in Vienna.
QUARTER-FINALS, SECOND LEG
Sporting CP (POR) vs. HBC Nantes (FRA) 30:32 (15:16)
Nantes win 60:57 on aggregate
- as in the first leg, the reverse fixture was a top-class thriller, but finally Sporting CP were beaten on home ground for the first time in this Machineseeker EHF Champions League season
- Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Pesic made the difference, saving 15 shots compared to nine saves combined by Sporting goalkeepers Andrè Kristensen and Mohamed Aly
- the top scorers were Aymeric Minne (Nantes) and Martim Costa (Sporting) with eight goals each
- the first half was a rollercoaster, with permanently changing leads; the biggest gap was two goals
- Sporting took the momentum right after the break, with three saves of Mohamed Aly and a 3:0 run giving them an aggregate lead for the first time when they led 18:16
- Nantes remained calm and kept their heads up, even as they lost Bryan Niateu to a red card, and turned the match around again, pulling ahead to 27:24
- in crunch time, Sporting missed too many shots, while Nantes could still rely on Pesic
Nantes remain cold as ice in the Lion’s Den
The 6,000 fans at the Pavilhao Joao Rocha in Lisbon were on fire even before the match began, but the loud and frenetic support from the stands was not enough for Sporting CP to extend their winning streak on home ground. The first defeat in the eighth home match this season meant the end of Portuguese dreams.
HBC Nantes simply were cooler in the Lion’s Den, more experienced, caused less mistakes than the hosts, and had the better goalkeeper. After 10 saves in the first leg, Ivan Pesic stopped 15 shots on Wednesday. Sporting’s speed was impressive, but they lacked precision in attack.
After Paris Saint-Germain were eliminated by OTP Bank – PICK Szeged in the play-offs, Nantes will represent the French colours in Cologne, for the first time steered by Grégory Cojean as head coach. Nantes only just made it through the play-offs and have had a similarly narrow encounter in the quarter-finals, but they have done enough to return to Cologne for a third time.
The sadness will have to be replaced with pride. We made our fans dream. We have to accept HBC Nantes was better than us in some aspects, like managing the emotions, where we need to grow. We have to highlight the good things we did in this competition. Sporting CP fans are very clever and they know how to recognise who fights for their shirt. They recognised we had an amazing EHF Champions League.
They didn't lose this year at home and we had to have a perfect game. We knew it would be a tough fight. We didn't panic at the start of the second half. Pavihao Joao Rocha has a special atmosphere with great and passionate supporters. We knew that, we weren't surprised and were prepared. It's good to play handball with an atmosphere like this.
