Tournat: “The atmosphere before the Veszprém game is intense”

“You can feel the tension but also the excitement. You would think that, with experienced players such as ours, in a club as experienced as Kielce, it would wear down. But no. Every season, when the EHF FINAL4 is in sight, everybody is super-hyped,” says Tournat.

The first-leg draw (29:29) in Veszprém was, in his words, “a decent result”. You might think that coming back from one of the hottest arenas in Europe still having all your cards to play would be positive, but it seems like there was maybe room for more.

“Don’t get me wrong, this is a good result. But we lost a couple of balls in the second half, we were ahead many times on the scoreboard and we think we might have done better. But at least, we still have all our chances before the return leg,” Tournat adds.

The game was special for all French players on the court, as Kielce count three and Veszprém two, but there was one of them for whom it was even more special. Nédim Rémili made the choice the change clubs in the middle of the season, transferring from Kielce to Veszprém in February to join Kentin Mahé in Hungary.   

“Seeing him in different colours after we started the season in the same team was strange. And it was for all of us. We worked together for six months and now he is against us, but that’s fine, he remains a good friend,” smiles Tournat.

The line player remains the French player that has been the longest in Poland, before Dylan Nahi and Benoit Kounkoud joined him in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

“It always makes things easier when we talk about things or when we can see each other outside of training and the games. I guess that it is also easier to integrate in a new environment when you have people of your nationality around you,” Tournat explains, as he has now taken up the unofficial role of French tourist guide in Kielce.

Last year, Kielce pushed Veszprém out of the way of the final in Cologne, before losing the Champions League final after a penalty shoot-out to Barça. Is that loss extra motivation this season?

“Not really, we do not think about that final every day. We were sad, but it’s been almost a year now and a lot of water’s gone under the bridge. All we know is that we want to get back to Cologne. And for that, we have to win on Thursday. The equation is quite simple, actually,” Tournat sums up.

Photos © Aniko Kovacs