Handball-CL
Written by Rainer Ackermann
What Telekom Veszprém was denied with the men, Audi ETO Győr achieved with the women: participation in the Final Four of the Champions League.
The duel between the giants of women’s handball once morest Vipers Kristiansand (both teams had won the last six competitions, first Audi ETO and then Vipers three times in a row) turned into a real thriller early on Saturday evening. Ultimately, the outstanding performance in the first leg in Norway was the deciding factor, as the Hungarians literally outclassed the defending champions 30:23.
A “scare” in the goal
This seven-goal lead threatened to be lost dramatically quickly in the Győr Audi Arena, which was sold out as is often the case with 5,200 spectators: Now Audi ETO was overrun by Vipers, and following three minutes the score was already 0:4! Veteran Katrine Lunde, who once celebrated great success with Győr, closed her box and parried balls from all positions – she made an incredible 21 saves throughout the entire game! The ETO interim coach Per Johansson then described Lunde as a “terror in the Norwegian goal”, who played freely and really heated up his players.
You only breathe a sigh of relief shortly before the end
After the catastrophic initial phase, Audi ETO finally found its way into the game and seemed to regain its usual sovereignty with the 11:10 in the 20th minute. But it was to remain the only lead in the entire game; at the break it was already 15:17. After the break, the nightmare continued: two goals were scored in 15 minutes! The fact that Vipers “only” managed a five-goal lead was due to repeated mistakes on the part of the guests, who also finally encountered domestic resistance when they tried to score. However, the Győr fans only breathed a sigh of relief a few minutes before the final whistle when their team came within two goals thanks to goals from Ryu and Kristiansen from the backcourt.
The women’s Final Four tournament will take place on 1/2. June will take place as usual in Budapest’s MVM Dome. A week later the men follow, also traditionally in Cologne, with defending champions SC Magdeburg, THW Kiel, Barcelona and the Veszprém conqueror Aalborg from Denmark.
#Audi #ETO #reaches #Final