Strong comeback allows Chambery to hope

Through a strong comeback in the second half, Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc Handball managed to catch up with five of the eight goals they were trailing after the first 30 minutes of the first leg of the quarter-final against Frisch Auf Göppingen.

The ruling back-to-back champions still have the edge, though.

• Chambery kept Göppingen from scoring for the first six minutes of the second half.
• Marcel Schiller scored seven goals for Göppingen.
• Alexandre Tritta scored five times for Chambery.

Quarter-final, 1. leg

Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc Handball (FRA) vs Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER) 27:30 (11:19)

Chambery did not manage to revenge their 28:25 defeat against Göppingen in the semi-final of the 2015-16 EHF Cup, but at least, their strong comeback in the second half allows them to go on hoping to reach the EHF Cup Finals.

Göppingen are still favourites ahead of the second leg in the EWS Arena next Sunday, though.

The defending back-to-back EHF Cup winners were missing injured backcourt players Allan Damgaard and Sebastian Heymann, but that did not stop them from dominating the match in Le Phare from the start, and in a hurry, they were four goals up at 6:2.

That lead was increased to five goals at 11:6 and to eight at 16:8, and the visitors managed to stay eight goals ahead for the rest of the first half..

While not allowing Göppingen to score for the first six minutes after the break, Chambery scored the first four goals of the second half and reduced the gap to four goals at 19:15.

Göppingen played seven against six almost throughout the last 30 minutes, but that was not really a success, as Chambery managed to move as close as to only being two goals down at 28:26 and 29:27 in the last minutes of the match.

They never managed to catch up completely, though, and at the end, Göppingen could celebrate a three-goal win with their fans.

Left wing Marcel Schiller scored seven goals for Göppingen, while right back Alexandre Tritta hit the net five times for Chambery.