Champions League: HBC Nantes beats Melsungen 33:25 – Back court lays the foundation

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Champions League: HBC Nantes beats Melsungen 33:25 – Back court lays the foundation.

33:25 – that is how HBC Nantes won against Melsungen in the Champions League on Wednesday, October 14. The scoreline reads clearly, and it is no coincidence: According to Ouest-France, it was above all the back court of the French side that controlled the game.

If you have followed HBC Nantes for years, you know: the team regularly competes in the Champions League, but had recently lost ground. The 33:25 corrects that picture. The newspaper from western France describes it as "retour au premier plan porté par la base arrière nantaise, au diapason" – a return to the big stage, carried by the cohesive back court.

For you, this means: Nantes once again decides for itself what is possible in Europe. Anyone who, after recent performances, had already wondered whether the team would lose touch in this Champions League season gets a clear answer here.

Why the back court made the difference

Handball thrives on responsibility being shared up front. That was exactly the point against Melsungen: center back, left half and right half pulled together, kept the ball moving and forced the defense into one reaction after another. When the back court both scores and distributes, a routine win becomes a statement.

Melsungen, an established top team in the Bundesliga, found no answer in this configuration – too much movement, too many options, too many players on Nantes' side taking responsibility at the same time. In the end, an eight-goal gap stands on the scoreboard.

What this means for the group stage

After the 33:25, Nantes has clawed back ground in the Champions League table. Exactly what the table looks like after the current matchday cannot be derived from the report – Ouest-France deliberately keeps it vague: "reprendre son destin en main en Europe". Practically, this means: in the remaining games, it is enough to handle their own business; the biggest uncertainty is gone from Nantes' perspective for now.

What remains for Melsungen

33:25 away in the Champions League – that rarely fits into your own season planning. For Melsungen, what matters now is above all that the team does not carry this result into Bundesliga day-to-day business. The Champions League takes a break for now, the league does not – and the next tasks are waiting there.

What you can take from this game

If you follow the handball Champions League, it is worth keeping an eye on the upcoming matchdays. Nantes is likely to approach the next games differently with the confidence from this performance. To assess HBC Nantes as if the Champions League chapter were already over for this season would in any case be premature after this evening.