Paris (AFP)
Montpellier snatched a point in Porto 23 to 23 by equalizing three seconds from the end, Saturday in the Champions League handball.
With three wins, one draw and two defeats, Montpellier join the Kielce Poles in second place in their group behind the Germans Kiel.
All seemed lost to the MHB a handful of seconds from the end, but Porto smashed his last attack, losing the ball to the benefit of his former player, Gilberto Duarte. The Portuguese scored his sixth goal in a counter-attack alone in front of the goalkeeper.
The Montpellier, still deprived of their best player Melvyn Richardson, hand-injured, had perfectly started the game, leading 5 to 1, but soon had problems to beat the Portuguese goalkeeper Alfredo Quintana.
They missed opportunities, including missing four times the cage deserted by the Portuguese who had taken the option of numerical superiority in the field.
Winner in Belarus in Brest and Poland in Kielce, but twice beaten at home by the leaders of the pool, Kiel and Vardar Skopje, defending champion, the Montpellier remain undefeated on the outside.
This is a crucial double shock with Zaporozhye, one of the teams they have to leave behind to qualify for the finals, which are waiting for them now, next Sunday in Ukraine.
© 2019 AFP