On Tuesday evening, HBC Nantes entered the EHF Europa League. Nantes players hosted the Portuguese from Benfica Lisbon.
“H” scored his first two goals from a 7-meter throw from Valero Rivera (3′ 2-2). As expected, the duo of Beloni Moreira and Joav Lombroso took charge of the Portuguese attack but Nantes’ defense coped well (6′ 4-2). ‘H’ had taken the lead but had to improve less after the temporary exclusion of Jérémie Toto (10′ 6-4). Nantes put in a good performance as Theo Monard found the solution (13′ 7-5). The Violets were diligent in attacking play and united in defence, which made it easy for Viktor Hallgrimsson who was on display (19:12-9). Mike Jensen answered him in the opposite cage (25 minutes 15-12). In the end, Roc Ovnicek passed the ball to Caoldi Odriozola who slipped behind the Benfica defense (26′ 16-12). “H” played well and returned to the locker room at the end of the first half with a 4-goal lead: 19-15.
18′ ⛔️
Not in my house!
Another save by Victor from 7 meters in an attempt to raise the Portuguese ball.
On the other side, Valero puts his young man. (𝟏𝟏-𝟗)
We stay ahead with the same two-unit advantage.#HBC Benfica pic.twitter.com/TxDqcr4FWk— HBCNantes (@HBCNantes) October 17, 2023
In the same vein as in the first half, Nantes players returned well after the end of the first half (35′ 23-18). Benfica set up the game with a score of 7 to 6, which allowed them to close the gap in the score (36′ 23-20). The H Arena was packed with players and Aymeric Mene (40′ 26-22) shined. Once again, Nantes was back in numerical advantage (42′ 26-24) but immediately regained control thanks to Ivan Besic’s booking (45′ 28-24). “H” maintained the gap and found himself 2 more after the final disqualification of Paulo Moreno (51′ 30-25). Besic continued to mark, and Damatrin finished off a counterattack to the jubilation of 5,902 fans (53′ 33-26).
In their first season in the EHF Europa League, HBC Nantes won 37-28.
✋️🤚 Coach satisfaction after the final whistle after the big match for his players.
Work that pays.#HBC Benfica pic.twitter.com/VCT86XfIXE
— HBCNantes (@HBCNantes) October 17, 2023
HBC Nantes: Ivan Besic (7/20), Victor Hallerjamsson (5/20), Thibaut Brett (1/2), Aymeric Mene (5/9), Valero Rivera (11/14), Alexandre Cavalcanti (1/3), Theo Avelange -Demoji, Roc Ovnesic (3/4), Baptiste Damatrin (1/1), Julien Boss (3/6), Lucas de la Bretich, William Huggelm, Jérémy Tautou (2/3), Theo Munard (7/9) , Caoldi Odriozola (2/3), Salomon Nasikwa
Benfica Lisbon: Mike Jensen (5/24), Gustavo Capdevil (7/25), Miguel Sanchez-Migalon (4/5), Steven Valencia, Beloni Moreira (1/1), Paulo Moreno (2/3), Alfonso Frere, Alexis Borges (4/6), Uli Rahmil (6/13), Ander Izquierdo (2/3), Rui Miguel Pereira, Filip Taliski (2/3), Demis Gregoras (2/4), Petar Djordžić (3/6), Yoav Lombroso (2/2), Guilherme Carvalho
HBC Nantes departs on a double flight. They will be at Chambery on Saturday 21st October at 7:00pm and then in Germany on Tuesday 24th October to face Rhein-Neckar-Lewin at 6:45pm. On this occasion, we invite “H” fans to come to this European Cup match in the club building.
➡️ Your places
The next home match before the international break will be on Friday 27 October at 7:00pm against Dunkirk.
➡️ Your places
