Despite blowing a five-goal lead late in the first half, Vipers Kristiansand bounced back and secured a superb 33:27 win against Metz Handball in the second semi-final of the EHF FINAL4 in Budapest.
The reigning champions will now face Györi Audi ETO KC in the final on Sunday, in a battle of the winners from the last four seasons of the EHF Champions League Women. It will be a match between the teams that impressed the most this season.
EHF FINAL4 SEMI-FINAL
Metz Handball (FRA) vs Vipers Kristiansand (NOR) 27:33 (15:14)
- Vipers became the fourth team in the history of the EHF FINAL4 to qualify for the final for two years in a row, after Buducnost, Györi Audi ETO KC and HC Vardar
- preventing Vipers from scoring for the last eight minutes and 57 seconds of the first half, Metz enjoyed a 6:0 unanswered run to cancel a five-goal advantage and take a 15:14 lead at the break
- but the Norwegian champions answered with their own 7:1 run, spurred by three consecutive goals scored by Nora Mørk, to take another five-goal lead at 25:20 with 13 minutes to go
- Mørk scored seven goals to improve her overall tally this season to 103 goals. She becomes the third player to pass the 100-goal mark, after CSM left back Cristina Neagu and Slovenian right back Ana Gros
- Swedish centre back Isabelle Gulldén moved into fourth in the all-time top goal scorer standings at the EHF FINAL4 with 49 goals, eight shy of the record set by Györ’s Nycke Groot and Anita Görbicz
- with the win against Metz, Vipers Kristiansand improved their record in the EHF FINAL4 to four wins and a single loss in three editions
- Vipers’ Czech left back Markéta Jerábková had her best-ever game in an European competition, topping the scoring charts with 12 goals. This matches the second-best individual performance in the EHF FINAL4, after Gulldén scored 15 goals for CSM in the 2015/16 finals
- Vipers can become only the fifth team in history to retain the title in the EHF Champions League Women, after Hypo Niederosterreich, Slagelse FH, Viborg HK and Györ
Lunde makes miracles once again for Vipers
Vipers Kristiansand and Metz Handball met twice in the group phase of the EHF Champions League Women this season and Vipers might have remembered those games late in the first half in this semi-final, when Metz’s defence looked out of this world at times, stopping Vipers in their tracks.
But with plenty of experience, a creative attack and an extraordinary goalkeeping performance from Katrine Lunde, who saved 16 shots for a 38 per cent saving efficiency, including some crucial shots in pivotal moments, Vipers bounced back in style and took a superb and well-deserved win, moving on to the final for the second time in a row.
Metz Handball are still searching for their first win at the EHF FINAL4, losing all the three games they played, and will try to secure the bronze medal tomorrow against Team Esbjerg, finishing what has been a season full of ups and downs.
I think we were pretty calm during the whole game, even if it did not go like we wanted at all times. We took control in the first part of the first half and we lost it in the last 10 minutes. We just calmed down, relaxed and in the second half we played really good.
Vipers deserve to play the final, I do not know what happened to our team. They had a great goalkeeper in Katrine Lunde, we missed too many shots, we did not run as we wanted.
