Hosts Lublin set up final against Bietigheim

MKS Perla Lublin pleased their home crowd on Saturday by easily reaching the final in Group 1 of this weekend's Women's EHF Champions League Qualification.

Lublin defeated Italian opponents Jomi Salerno 28:17, hours after SG BBM Bietigheim beat Spanish champions Super Amara Bera Bera 33:27 in the first semi-final.

The final between Lublin and Bietigheim for one spot in the group matches will take place on Sunday at 19:00 hrs. Three hours earlier, Salerno and Bera Bera will contest the 3/4 placement match. Both matches will be streamed live on ehfTV.com.

• Lublin get another chance Sunday after failing to qualify for the CL Group Matches seven times before

• Salerno scored just 11 more goals after the score was 6:6 in minute 17

• Bietigheim are third German team in a row to reach final of a qualification tournament, after Leipzig (2016) and Thüringer HC (2017)

• Bera Bera lost in qualification for third straight time, after 2012 and 2016

QUALIFICATION GROUP 1, SEMI-FINAL:

SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) vs Super Amara Bera Bera (ESP) 33:27 (17:15)

Bieitgheim took the first step to their first goal of the season: reaching the group matches of the Women’s EHF Champions League.

The first half was marked by many goals, full speed handball and almost no defence on both sides. Bietigheim were constantly ahead, mainly thanks to their back court stars Maura Visser, who was named best player of the match, Kim Naidzinavicius and Laura van der Heijden. This trio and Anna Loerper combined scored 19 of the team’s 33 goals.

After a 6:2 lead, Bietigheim saw their lead reduced to just one goal as Bera Bera became more efficient in attack, with Adriana Cardoso de Castro (best scorer with seven goals) and Silvia Arderius Martin (six) on fire.

Right after the break, Bietigheim strengthened their defence and added four unanswered goals within five minutes to go 21:15 up. Bera Bera became too hectic, caused too many mistakes and turnovers. The match was decided when Swedish wing Daniela Gustin netted from a counterattack to make it 29:22 eight minutes before the end.

MKS Perla Lublin (POL) vs Jomi Salerno (ITA) 28:17 (15:7)

A 9:0 series in the second part of the first half was the key to open the door for Lublin. Salerno kept up with hosts until 6:6, mainly because of their Cuban star Suleiky Gomez Hernandez, who led the match with seven goals.

But then they failed to score for 12 minutes, and Lublin easily pulled ahead to 15:6, scoring from all positions while Salerno lacked the means to build a solid defence in that period.

After 41 minutes, the distance reached double digits for the first time (21:11), and later the margin reached 13 goals, but the match had long been decided by then.

While Salerno had given up, Lublin could save some energy for Sunday’s final. Although the Polish team has played around 60 matches in various European Cup competitions, this will be their very first confrontation with a team from Germany.