If the bubbling Hala Legionow of the Polish champion has often been the scene of MHB exploits in the past, this time the step was clearly too high for the proteges of Patrice Canayer. “The more time passes, the more the pressure will change sides”, had imagined the latter, as a great expert in the queen competition (winner in 2003 then in 2018).
Unfortunately for the general manager of Montpellier, the suspense did not go beyond the heart of the first half, the time for the two pivots of Kielce, Nicolas Tournat (2 goals) and especially Artsem Karalek (5/5, 7/7 in total) to literally explode the French rearguard.
Too many gaps in attack
Like a bad remake of the first leg (28-31 defeat), Valentin Porte’s partners also showed too many shortcomings in attack to see any exploit. Like Hugo Descat, his serial scorer defeated twice on a 7m throw, Montpellier only managed to score eight times in the first act.
Led 15-8 at the break, the MHB then showed a cumulative delay of ten goals. Suffice to say a chasm against such an experienced opponent. Despite the resounding return of Julien Bos after two months of absence (7/9 on shots for the left-hander) and all the aggressiveness of Diego Simonet, the Héraultais continued to come up against Andreas Wolff, bordering on disgust as the goalkeeper German proved impassable (14 stops).
Without qualms, Kielce continued their festival up to 10 goals ahead (23-13), to offer themselves in an infernal din a fifth participation in the Final Four. The Polish club and its two Blues, Dylan Nahi and Nicolas Tournat, join Veszprem, qualified a little earlier in the evening. Thursday evening (8:45 p.m.), PSG, held in check by Kiel in the first leg (30-30), will also try to win their ticket to Cologne. The last ticket will be awarded to the winner of Barcelona-Flensburg (33-29 on the way).