Champions League: At BBH, an elimination no one saw coming

Champions League (Return Play-offs). Brest BH – Ferencvaros: 26-31

Until then, above BBH, the sky was bright blue, cloudless. After 21 straight wins, including the first leg of the Champions League play-offs in Ferencvaros, Hungary (30-28), Brestoys looked to be on track to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals. And ready to devour everything in their path, the Championship, the Coupe de France and the Champions League.

And then, this Sunday, in a packed Brest Arena, the momentum stalled. sharp Having never been able to compete with the Hungarian finalists of the last Champions League, BBH saw its adventure on the European scene come to an abrupt end at the play-off stage.

And, despite the quality of the opposition, no one really expected this sudden decline in power. It was enough to see the tears of Valeria Maslova, departed for… Ferencvaros, at the end of the match, her head buried under her jersey and consoled by Hava Ndiaye, to understand. Or Captain Jenny Carlson’s crestfallen look at a press conference. “We had a lot of good months before this match, so obviously, I’m very disappointed,” Laconic, Sweden, who was experiencing his last Champions League match with BBH, will leave for Buduknost (Montenegro) next week next season. .

“A very big blow to the head”

“It’s a huge blow to the mind,” admitted Pablo Morel, who was also experiencing his last match on the European scene with Brest. We have forgotten this taste of defeat, it is so unpleasant. The last time they tasted defeat in the Champions League was on October 28 in Debrecen (31-24).

Bitter, breast coaches can’t help but feel that this European adventure has very little flavor. “We wanted to keep the doors open as long as possible. There, it closes a little early for us. Given our performance, the European Top 8 will be relevant for Brest. We would have loved to have gone further, he suffered very, very badly. It’s a real blow. »

A Maslow addiction?

For 21 matches, BBH was carried by a strong defense, a stratospheric Valeria Maslova in attack and an iron mentality that allowed them to always turn around in bad situations. Sunday, none of that. Although Maslova scored seven goals, she lost important balls and could not have enough impact on the match. If Pauletta Foppa (six goals), decisive in “money-time”, tried to take possession, BBH is still very dependent on its Russian back. “It was a bit worse than the first leg, but, in my opinion, it’s a defensive problem, we conceded too many goals,” lamented Morel.

Champions League page off, BBH still has some great things to write about this season. In the Championship, leaders and undefeated, and in the Coupe de France, where Brestois will meet Metz in the semi-finals, on Saturday 30 March at the Arena. “Beyond the disappointment, we have to get back to work quickly. It’s a big challenge to be undefeated in the championship. The Coupe de France is the same as the semi-final. We have three games left before the return against Metz in the championship. We really have to be undefeated. » For that, Brest Knows the recipe.