Late drama in Porto results in a draw

Prior to the play-off’s first leg, Montpellier had not won a Champions League match since the 1st of December.

And for some time, tonight, you thought that the drought was going to be over. Especially when the French side opened up a four-goal gap with six minutes left to play.

But Sebastian Frandsen decided otherwise. Porto’s goalkeeper stopped two shots in the last minute - including a Hugo Descat’s seven-meter throw - to keep his team in the race for the quarter-finals.

PLAY-OFF:

FC Porto (POR) vs Montpellier HB (FRA) 29:29 (13:14)

• the hosts had the better start with an early four-goal lead; the momentum was then stolen by the visitors. With Diego Simonet at the wheel, Montpellier scored a 7:1 run to go ahead at the break
• thanks to their goalkeeper Kevin Bonnefoi, Montpellier took the wheel in the second half, and held it for a long period
• the French side increased the gap to four goals at the 54th minute, when Yanis Lenne netted his third goal
• Sebastian Frandsen saved the last two shots aimed at him, including Hugo Descat’s seven-meters throw, while Pedro Cruz scored two important goals to make the score even in the last minute
• the two teams will meet again for the return leg in Montpellier next Wednesday

Sebastian Frandsen, right on time

To say that the Danish goalkeeper’s first half was underwhelming is not far from the truth. Despite his seven saves, Frandsen did not manage to make much of a difference for Porto. But when he came back on, with eight minutes left to play, he completely turned things around. Put it simply: Nothing went past Frandsen when he came back on and he even managed to stop Descat’s potential game-winning seven-meters throw. Proof that you do not need to make many saves, you just have to make the right ones.