MOTW SUMMARY: Nantes celebrate deserved win over Kielce
The Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2024/25 has entered its round 2 on Wednesday (18 September), with HBC Nantes beating Industria Kielce 23:20 in the Match of the Week in France. Read all what happened in the live blog with up-to-the-minute coverage of this captivating MOTW.
We played a really complete game. First of all, in defence we were amazing. In attack, it is true, we did some mistakes, we lost some easy balls, but I think we played a really complete game. That is the way for us this season if we want to go to the next round. [On winning the Player of the Match award:] The defence was amazing, that made it easier for me.
During the whole 60 minutes, we struggled a lot. We have the same problem like last season, lot of injured players, but we will see. I am still proud of my team because we fought until the end, but it wasn't enough. The keeper just saved everything.
20:21
The two teams had contrasting starts to their European 2024/25 campaign last week: Nantes led in Aalborg at half-time but ultimately suffered a seven-goal defeat, while Kielce celebrated a win by the same margin over Zagreb.
For Nantes, however, the season as such has started very well, as they had a convincing 36:29 win over domestic champions Paris Saint-Germain Handball in the Trophée des Champions – the French super cup – less than three weeks ago.
20:14
After four seasons with Kielce, line player Nicolas Tournat has returned to France this summer to join his old club again. So, with Nantes he is playing against his former teammates tonight. EHF journalist Kevin Domas spoke with Tournat over his coming home for this feature:
20:04
While there is a great line-up of matches in round 2, we are going to exclusively focus on the MOTW here in the live blog. Nantes against Kielce is a game featuring two teams that should make for a good watch during the entire 60 minutes.
While both have played EHF Champions League finals in the past – and Kielce obviously lifted the trophy once, in 2016 – and been to the EHF FINAL4 on numerous occasions, they have only met each other four times so far in Europe's top flight.
Kielce lead the head-to-head stats with three wins against one for Nantes; and remarkably, Kielce won both matches the teams have played against each other on Nantes' home court in France – in 2021 and 2023.
Do Nantes need more motivation to go for the win tonight?!
Affiches de prestige, ambiance incroyable des soirs d'Europe, excitation toute particulière pour nos supporters ... 🇪🇺
— HBCNantes (@HBCNantes) September 16, 2024
💫 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢, 𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 !
Dernières places ➡️ https://t.co/GhleQf2YJ4#HBCNKIELCE pic.twitter.com/pQdAZOY2aU
19:55
Bonsoir and welcome to the live blog for the Match of the Week between HBC Nantes and Industria Kielce! The game in France starts at 20:45 CEST as round 2 of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League gets into full flow.
Here is the full schedule for tonight and tomorrow:
