Close ties to decide seats for the Maschinensucher EHF Finals 2025

The quarter-final clashes between Irun and Melsungen and Kiel versus Limoges will bring two EHF Finals debutants. On Wednesday 30 April at 16:00 CEST, the four participants of the Maschinensucher EHF Finals in Hamburg will find out their opponents during the draw

QUARTER-FINALS, SECOND LEG

THW Kiel (GER) vs Limoges Handball (FRA) 
Tuesday 29 April, 18:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
First leg 26:26

• Limoges almost became a stumble-stone for THW Kiel in the first leg, constantly leading in the first 40 minutes, but were lucky when Seif Yehia el Deraa levelled the result with a penalty goal
• Gauthier Ivah (Limoges) won the goalkeeper duel last week against Andreas Wolff (Kiel) with 13 saves, compared to nine stops for the German star
• Yehia el Deraa is currently the seventh-best scorer of the competition with 60 goals since the start of the group matches, while Bence Imre is Kiel’s top scorer with 46 strikes
• when THW Kiel competed in the second-tier EHF club competition, they always won it: in 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2019 they were EHF Cup winners; besides, Kiel are four-time EHF Champions League winners
• since the implementation of the EHF Finals in 2021, Kiel always played in the EHF Champions League before this season
• Kiel are still unbeaten in this EHF European League season with nine wins and two draws, while the debutants of the competition Limoges only won three of the seven away matches this season
• Limoges took a 30:29 win against Cesson-Rennes last weekend in the French league, while Kiel did not have a match in the German Bundesliga

Montpellier Handball (FRA) vs FC Porto (POR)
Tuesday 29 April, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
First leg: 30:29 in favour of Montpellier Handball

• the second half of the first leg was like a roller-coaster ride, with Porto using a 6:0 run to turn a 17:13 lead for Montpellier into a 19:17 in their favour, but finally the French side took a narrow win
• Bryan Monte dos Santos was the top scorer of the victors with eight goals, including the last one for the victors, while Pedro Valdés netted six times for Porto
• Pedro Valdés (Porto) and Sebastian Karlsson (Montpellier) are the top scorers of both sides, equally on 49 strikes
• the Portuguese side were part of the last final tournament of the old EHF Cup in 2019, while Montpellier were EHF Cup finalists in 2014 and made it to the EHF Finals 2023 in Flensburg, finishing fourth
• the French side, who are two-time EHF Champions League winners in 2003 and 2018, won 10 of their 11 matches in the current EHF European League campaign, losing only to GOG in the main round
• Montpellier beat Chartres 37:30 last Friday in the French League, while Porto did not play a domestic match last weekend

Irudek Bidasoa Irun (ESP) vs MT Melsungen (GER)
Tuesday 29 April, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
First leg 28:27 in favour of MT Melsungen

• 44-year-old goalkeeper Carsten Lichtlein – regularly MT’s goalkeeper coach – was Melsungen’s hero in the first leg, with many crucial saves in the last 20 minutes; his nephew Nils Lichtlein is on the court for Füchse Berlin in the quarter-finals of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League
• Irun scored a 6:0 run in the first leg to be ahead 19:15, before Melsungen turned the game around in the very last minutes for a narrow win
• two Spaniards were the top scorers of their teams in the first leg: Ian Barrufet (Melsungen) and Asier Nieto Marcos netted six times each – both are also the overall top scorers of their teams, as Barrufet netted 68 times and Nieto Marcos 46 times
• Irun – EHF Champions League winners in 1995 – can not only make it to their first EHF Finals, but also their first semi-finals on the international stage since 2001 in the EHF Cup
• Melsungen have never played in any semi-finals in EHF club competitions before
• while Irun did not have a match in the Spanish league last weekend, Melsungen are equal leaders of the German Bundesliga with Füchse Berlin, after their 31:25 win at Erlangen

SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) vs GOG (DEN)
Tuesday 29 April, 20:45 CEST, live on EHFTV
First leg: 29:26 in favour of SG Flensburg-Handewitt

• thanks to a 5:0 run after being led 24:25, defending champions Flensburg entered the winners’ way in the first leg, backed by 14 saves from goalkeeper Kevin Møller; Møller is one of the seven Flensburg players who had played for GOG before
• GOG’s Norwegian Tobias Grøndahl is the third-best scorer of the competition with 71 goals, while his country fellow August Pedersen is Flensburg's top scorer with 53 goals
• besides Kiel, Flensburg are the only unbeaten team in the competition this season, with the same outcome: nine victories and two draws; GOG have seven wins, two draws and four defeats on their tally, but were the only team that managed to beat Montpellier so far
• since the start of the 2023/24 season, Flensburg’s balance in the EHF European League is impressive, with 21 wins, two draws and two defeats
• GOG have never made it to the EHF Finals, but were eliminated twice in 2021 and 2022 in the quarter-finals by Nexe and Plock
• Flensburg won their last Bundesliga match 32:27 on Saturday against Stuttgart, while GOG beat Bjerringbro/Silkeborg in the winners’ stage of the Danish league, 31:30

Photos © Alina Kaesler (main), Victor Sousa & Lau Nielsen (in-text)