The handball players of Brest achieved a huge feat by eliminating, on Saturday, May 29, 2021, the Hungarians of Györ to climb for the first time in the final of the Champions League. – Tibor Illyes / AP / SIPA
At the end of the suspense and the penalty shootout. The French handball players from Brest qualified for the final of the Champions League for the first time by beating the Hungarians from Györ, triple title holders, after a penalty shootout (4-2, 23 -23 after extra time), this Saturday in Budapest.
Brest, the first French women’s club in the C1 final, will face in the final, Sunday, the Norwegians from Kristiansand who beat CSKA Moscow 33 to 30, this Saturday in the early evening. In Final 4, set up since 2014 for the ladies, Györ had lost only once in ten matches, in the 2016 final against Bucharest. With its armada of international stars, like the Norwegian Stine Oftedal, the Hungarian team remained on three consecutive European titles (2017, 2018, 2019). This Saturday, they fell on an incredible team from Brest, very well in place in defense.
By eliminating the big favorite Györ, who sees his streak of 55 undefeated C1 games come to an end, Brest Bretagne Handball can dream of becoming the first French women’s club to lift the most coveted trophy, and join Montpellier, the only club in France, European champion for men (2003 and 2018).
At the end of a game with twists, duyrant which the Brestoises have several times led by four goals thanks to the stops of Cléopâtre Darleux before snatching the right to play extra time at the last second of regulation time, everything was decided during a session of jets of seven meters. It was the Swede Bella Gullden, one of the stars of Brest, who managed the decisive shot.
“We have a lot of strength and the team had heart”
“We knew that Györ was the favorite with more than 50 unbeaten games. But we have a lot of strength and the team had heart. There is synergy in this team. During the second half, we have to stay calm, we have a lot of mentality. Afterwards, each in the team brought in the result. It was really a defense and goalkeeper game. It must have been fun to watch, it was mostly fun to play. The 7m session is tension, sensations that you cannot find elsewhere, ”commented Cléopatre Darleux.
The Brestoises, who have already won the Coupe de France this season against Nantes and then the French Championship by putting an end to the domination of Metz, are at the gates of an exceptional Grand Slam.