Montpellier takes a historic turn and is eliminated in the Champions League

Bryan Monte in a defensive moment (Photo: Sascha Klahn/ EHF Champions League)

Montpellier is eliminated from the men’s handball Champions League. This Thursday (2), Brazilian Bryan Monte’s French team lost the quarter-final return match to THW Kiel. The 31-21 victory saw the German team reverse its goal advantage and advance on the aggregate score, consolidating a historic turnaround in the competition.

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In the first leg, held in France, Montpellier dominated the action and counted on four goals from Bryan Monte to win 39-30. However, things changed in the duel held in Germany this Thursday. The German team was the one who had superiority and dissolved the advantage of 9 goals in almost 60 minutes to qualify with 61 to 60 on aggregate.

In fact, Kiel’s qualifying goal came in the 57th minute of the game or 27 minutes into the second half. Eric Johansson, top scorer of the match with 8 goals, hit a beautiful shot from outside to make it 31-21. Despite this, the hero of the game remained under the goalposts. Goalkeeper Tomas Mrkva played a decisive role in the match, especially in the final 3 minutes when he made 3 saves to secure the advantage. He finished with 12 in total, defending 41.38% of the shots he received.

Check out Kiel’s goalkeeper’s saves

THW Kiel’s comeback against Montpellier was the second biggest in the history of the men’s handball Champions League. Kiel’s comeback was second only to that made by Füchse Berlin against Ademar León in 2011/2012. After losing to the Spaniards 24-34, the Germans qualified after winning at home 29-18.

Bryan Monte Season

Unlike the first leg, Bryan Monte had a discreet performance in this Thursday’s game. The Brazilian player only managed to score one goal for Montpellier in six attempts. Furthermore, Bryan also contributed to the French team with two assists.

Despite this, he finished his first season in the men’s handball Champions League among the competition’s top 20 scorers. In 16 games, Bryan scored 70 goals and ranked 17th on the list of top scorers.