Paris (AFP)
The Messines did well: six days after their victory over Rostov, the players of Emmanuel Mayonnade, solid, won Saturday in Ljubljana (26-22) during the 11th day of the group stage of the Champions League, placing second in their group.
With this victory, Metz took advantage of Bucharest's defeat earlier in the day against Kritiansand (22-29) to grab a place in the standings, just three points behind the leader, Rostov, who however has one game more than the French.
Only the first two teams from each group can qualify directly for the quarter-finals.
As on the first leg (33-27 victory), the Messines were able to take the measure of the Slovenes.
Supported by the stops of their goalkeeper, Hatadou Sako, the players of Emmanuel Mayonnade took the advantage from the first period, carried in particular by the Dutch Debbie Bont and the French Marie-Hélène Sajka.
More feverish in the second half, especially in the last 15 minutes when they chained the failure on shots, the Lorraines, always well helped by their goalkeeper, nevertheless managed to contain the assaults of the Krim, despite Orlane's red cards. Kanor and Olga Perederiy in the last minutes.
The Messines are at the heart of a particularly intense month of January, which has no less than nine scheduled matches, to recover the late matches accumulated in October and November due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, they will fly to Budapest, to face Ferencvaros on Wednesday, before meeting him again on January 24, but this time at home.
The Hungarians were beaten on Saturday by Esbkjerg and are now 5th in the group.
© 2021 AFP