Kielce beat Veszprém to give themselves another shot in Cologne

Tonight, and after both sides drew (29:29) in the first leg, Kielce once again shattered Veszprém’s dream of winning the trophy for the first time. Having perfectly mastered its defensive plan, the Polish took off in the first ten minutes, quickly leading by four, never to be seen again.

While Nédim Rémili and Kentin Mahé kept Veszprém afloat for a while, Kielce’s defence clearly had the upper hand. Thanks to Tomasz Gebala and Artsem Karalek, the Polish side delivered a defensive masterclass, while their opponents were never able to find solutions. And on such a strong backbone, Kielce qualified for the TruckScout24 EHF FINAL4 for the sixth time in history.

QUARTER-FINAL

Barlinek Industria Kielce (POL) vs Telekom Veszprém HB (HUN) 31:27 (18:12)
First leg 29:29. Kielce win 60:56 on aggregate

• Veszprém had to wait 13 minutes before scoring on a playing phase. Before that, the hosts had already netted six times and conceded only two seven meters throws from Andreas Nilsson
• as the minutes passed by, so did the game level itself but with Kielce remaining on top, thanks to backcourt players Alex Dujshebaev and Szymon Sicko, who scored five and four respectively in the first half
• Kielce’s defence did not lower its intensity after the break, as Veszprém had to fight for every goal. As a result, the gap between both teams never came under four goals
• Kielce’s advantage turned to eight goals, its maximum all evening, when Miguel Sanchez-Migallon scored a fastbreak with 15 minutes to play
• Nédim Rémili was the top scorer of the game, netting seven for Veszprém, while Sicko and Alex Dujshebaev netted six each for Kielce
• Kielce will take part in the EHF FINAL4 for the sixth time, having won it once, in 2016

Tomasz Gebala, the defensive mastermind

While praises are often directed to players scoring the most goals, tonight’s real leader for Kielce only attacked for 15 minutes. Though Talant Dujshebaev surprised everyone by asking Tomasz Gebala to play offence for a bit, Tomasz Gebala still mostly did what he does best: defend. And he did an amazing job at stopping his opponents, as Veszprém had their worst offensive evening of the season. As Kielce conceded so few goals and finally won the game, they owe a big thank you to Gebala.