EHF Champions League 2023/24 – 1. Round

FTC Railcargo vs Metz HB 25:38 (13:19)

by Sascha Staat

Expectations

When the two teams faced each other last time, back in April, fans left the arena in Metz stunned by the outcome. FTC had shocked the handball world by turning a 6-goal deficit from the first leg of the EHF Champions League quarterfinal into participation at the 2023 EHF Final4 in Budapest.

First Half

Metz came out flying leading 5-0 early on, backed by four saves of Camille Depuiset. She took over right away and collected several shots from long-distance of the Hungarian 2023 Cup winners with ease. The French record champions scored four fast-break goals in the first 30 minutes, with Champions League newcomer Lucie Granier showing what she’s up to after joining from Besancon. Anne Mette Hansen was on fire as well, scoring five times before the break.

Second Half

It came almost as a surprise when Metz coach Emmanuel Mayonade opted for Hatadou Sako  to replace Depuiset. Yet, she had an excellent start to the game as well. Her saves allowed Metz to run more fast-breaks, with Chloe Valentini missing no shots.  Add to it numerous errors of FTC and it explains why Metz cruised to a comfortable 31-18 lead, just seconds after the third time-out taken by Martin Albertsen. In the end Metz won by a whopping 13 goal difference, 38-25!

Player of the Match

Camille Depuiset and Hatadou Sako combined for 21 saves in the lopsided match. A befitting performance to share the “award”.

Scorers

FTC Railcargo

E. Boel (3/9), G. Marton (4/5), A. Malestein (9/11), K. Klujber (4/14), R. Bordas (1/2), D. Cvijic (1/1), A. Lekic (3/10)

Metz HB

A. Grijseels (2/2), C. Valentini (9/10), A-M Hansen (5/6), D. Golvet (1/1), K. Joergensen (2/9), M. Brkic(2/2), L. Vinter Burgaard (3/4), Z. Mlamali (1/1), E. Jacques (2/3), S. Bouktit (4/4), L. Granier (3/3), D. Chambertin (3/7), J. Le Blevec (1/1)

Post-Game Reactions

Camille Depuiset (Metz)

After the outsized win in the opening round of the 2023/24 ⁦@ehfcl⁩ season, ⁦@camille_dpst⁩ reflects on the success of ⁦@MetzHandball⁩ #FTCMET 25:38 (13:19).#handball pic.twitter.com/BalajJnY7t

— stregspiller (@stregspiller) September 10, 2023

Emily Bölk (FTC)

“I think we started kind of criminal with a lot of easy mistakes. It was also
tough to find the right way to adjust to the referee’s approach to the game. Probably it was hard for  Metz as well – I guess they will say the same if you ask them. Then we didn’t play well in defense and Metz had a lot more saves then we had. We also lost because we didn’t get into any kind of flow in offense.”

Emmanuel Mayonade (Head coach Metz)

SOUND ON!

After the outsized @ehfcl win of @MetzHandball at FTC, the head coach of the Frech record champions sums up the result and his team’s performance. #FTCMET 25:38 #handball @saschastaat caught up with “Manu”Mayonnade after the game.
📸 @stregspiller
👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/yp3xM3xeG1

— stregspiller (@stregspiller) September 11, 2023

Anne Mette Hansen (Metz)

SOUND ON!

Danish international Anne-Mette Hansen sums up the @ehfcl win of @MetzHandball in the opening round against the 2023 Cup winners from FTC. #FTCMET 25:38@saschastaat with post-game reactions from Erd arena.#handball
📸 @stregspiller
👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/8vJjapHJcU

— stregspiller (@stregspiller) September 11, 2023

Martin Albertsen (Head coach FTC)

“A lot of things didn’t work today. In the beginning our defense was okay, but in attack we
were shooting in situations which we normally don’t try to score. Then they were running us. Later on, we actually fought back a bit, but in the second half it was the same all over again. They changed their keeper and Sato saved the first five shots.  It affected us mentally and we showed things that I haven’t seen in this team, yet. We just spoke about it in the locker room. Right now, we can be much, much better as a team. We have a team of fighters and we have to show it.”