REVIEW: Montpellier open the gates to Cologne widely
THW Kiel arrived with an unbeaten streak of seven EHF Champions League matches (five wins, two draws) and as group winner in Montpellier – and then were sensationally clearly crushed by the hosts. Profiting from the enormous number of Kiel mistakes and scoring from all positions, the French record champions made a huge step towards their second appearance at the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 in Cologne after winning the trophy in 2018.
The 30:39 was Kiel’s second biggest away defeat in the last 15 years below the 24:42 at Paris and even bigger than the 30:38 at Nantes – which underlines their relationships to away games at France. After getting eliminated in the quarter-finals by PSG in 2021 and 2023, again a French side seems to become the stumble block for the four-time winners. And after winning the last group match at Barcelona, Montpellier proved that they are a real top team.
I’m very satisfied, with both the performance and the result, I’m very happy to play my last Champions League match here against what I consider to be Europe’s biggest club. Filip said they need a miracle, I’m experienced enough to know that miracles do happen in the Champions League. We will go to Kiel with humility, but also ambition, it will be a different context and a big challenge.
I’m very disappointed. This was the most important Champions League match of the season and the result is hard to swallow. We knew what to expect here, we knew there would be a lot of pressure, but we couldn’t stand that pressure. Montpellier played with great freedom. We will do everything possible next week, to play much better in attack, in defence, to have better goalkeepers. We need a small handball miracle after this heavy defeat.
Match action
