It was all home wins on the first quarterfinal evening in European League. Montpellier HB made a real mark against RK Vardar, MT Melsungen leads by five over FC Porto half-way and RK Nexe defended an early lead versus THW Kiel.
Montpellier will be close to achieving a final four spot with a ten goal advantage to Vardar. Remi Desbonnet was an overall star between the posts and Kylian Villeminot and Bryan Monte attacked successfully from centre and left in the distance position.
Porto closed in on Melsungen´s lead several times but the German team made continuous superb effort with high pace with David Mandic in full force. A solid difference was the end result as Melsungen won 28–23.
Nexe produced the surprise of the night by coping with Kiel for 60 minutes and even having the capacity to pull ahead in the final minutes. With major goals by Tin Lucin (nine) there’s hope for a total scare when the Croatian team makes the return visit next week, Kiel will have to bounce back from a three goal deficit.
European League, quarterfinal
MT Melsungen–FC Porto 28–23 (12–8)
Montpellier HB–RK Vardar 33–23 (12–10)
RK Nexe–THW Kiel 33–30 (16–13)