Saturday in a boiling and packed Brest Arena, Brest and Györ could not decide, for the fourth time in a row, after the two pool matches last year and the semi-final won on penalties at Budapest.

The Breton club then lost in the final against the Norwegians of Kristiansand.

Coralie Lassource's teammates can however harbor some regrets after having very well muzzled the back base of Györ, which nevertheless has the best players in the world (the Norwegians Stine Oftedal and Veronika Kristiansen, the French Estelle Nze Minko, the Dane Mette Hansen), thanks to a stifling defense and their Danish goalkeeper Sandra Toft.

The BBH had up to five goals in the first period (10-5 then 11-6), but gradually gave way in the second period.

French pivot Pauletta Foppa scored the 21st goal, but on the fast comeback, Estelle Nze Minko equalized.

"We will win!"

The Hungarian team scored only eight goals in the first period, the fault of Sandra Toft, elected by the International Federation best player in the world in 2021 and who finished with 15 saves on Saturday, well helped by her defense.

"I'm proud of our team. We fought for sixty minutes, we gave it our all. They're a great team up front, but I wanted us to win, we had the chance to win," pointed out the guard.

"I wanted to give everything to have a chance to go to the Final 4 with the BBH. We will win!", Launched the future player of Györ next season, in view of the return match (Saturday, 4:00 p.m.).

The joy of Danish goalkeeper Sandra Toft, during the main round match of the Handball Euros against Russia, on December 15, 2020 at Herning Henning Bagger Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Archives

In this ultra-defensive match, the two French goalkeepers of Györ Amandine Leynaud (who will end her immense career at the end of the season) and Laura Glauser were not left out, with nine saves each.

It will be necessary for Brest to reproduce this defensive performance in Györ and to be wary of the awakening of the leader Stine Oftedal, completely transparent on Saturday in Brittany (no goal and no assist).

A feat in Hungary would be synonymous with a second French club qualified for the Final 4 in Budapest, because Metz took advantage of the exclusion of Rostov following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, to validate its ticket.

© 2022 AFP