HBC Nantes 33-37 Barça: Show of strength

A show of strength from Carlos Ortega's team as they emerged victorious 37-33 against HBC Nantes becoming the first team to win away a the French side this season. A great first half performance laid the foundation for the win but injuries to N'Guessan and Langaro in the second half disrupted Barça's rhythm and the home side got themselves back into the game. 

Excellent first half 

The blaugrane started the game in excellent fashion and a run of four unanswered goals made it 8-4 to the visitors. With keeper Pérez Vargas in superlative form and with Fàbregas finding the net five times in the first half, Barça led by a comfortable 22-16 at half time. 

Overcoming difficulties 

In the second half a hand injury for N'Guessan and a knee problem for Langaro saw Barça's flow disrupted. Nantes keeper Pesic made several important saves as the French side fought back to 31-28 down. Nantes came to within one goal of Barça art 31-30 but Ortega's team fought back to close out the win for the blaugranes at 37-33. Nevertheless, the win came at a price with N'Guessan out for six weeks and Langaro ruled out for five to six months.  
 

MATCH STATS:

Nantes, 33
Barça, 37

Nantes: Andreas Hofmann (1), Lucas De la Breteche (2), Jérémy Toto (3), Alexandre Cavalcanti (4), Jorge Maqueda (3), Kauldi Odroziola (3), Valero Rivera (5) -starting five-, Ivan Pesic (-), Thibaud Briet (3), Baptiste Damatrin-Bertrand, Linus Persson (2), Rubén Marchán (1), Theo Monar (2), Rok Ovnicek (1), Aleksander Shkurinskiy (1) and Pedro Portela (2).

Barça: Pérez de Vargas (-), Thiagus Petrus, Ludovic Fàbregas (8), Dika Mem (6), Timothey N'Guessan (3), Aleix Gómez (2), Hampus Wanne (6) -starting five-, Emil Nielsen (-), Luka Cindric (4), Luis Frade (-), Blaz Janc (4), Jonathan Carlsbogard (-), Melvyn Richardson (2), Domen Makuc (2), Haniel Langaro (-) and Martí Soler (-).