Spanish champion Guaguas Las Palmas continues its impressive participation in the Champions League. Sergio Miguel Camarero's team secured a spot in the quarterfinals after eliminating French Montpellier in the playoff phase.
The Spaniards took the decisive step already in the first match.
Guaguas Las Palmas – Montpellier 3:1(25:22,25:21,21:25,25:23)
In the return leg in France, the hosts won the match, but the two sets won by the Spanish team proved sufficient to send Guaguas further in the tournament.
Montpellier – Guaguas Las Palmas 3:2(25:22,20:25,25:19,22:25,15:11)
The match lasted 129 minutes and was played in front of 1709 spectators in the hallPalais des Sports Jacques Chaban Delmasin Castelnau-le-Lez.
Overall, the match was extremely close – 107:102 points for Montpellier. However, the Spaniards took the crucial second and fourth sets, which gave them the necessary advantage in the aggregate score of the two matches.
The match also featured Bulgarian participation. Former national setter Dobromir Dimitrov, who plays for Guaguas, appeared on the court in the fifth set but failed to score a point.
Top Scorers
| Team | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Guaguas | Francisco Wallyson Bezerra Souza | 21 |
| Guaguas | Osmany Juantorena | 14 |
| Guaguas | Nicolás Bruno | 12 |
| Montpellier | Simon Hirsch | 21 |
| Montpellier | Ezequiel Palacios | 19 |
| Montpellier | Tomas Lopez Pascual | 14 |
| Montpellier | Nicolas Le Goff | 4 |
Bezera Souza and Hirsch were the top scorers in the match with 21 points each, which highlights the balanced nature of the game. For the Spanish team, the legend Osmany Juantorena provided significant support with 14 points, while Nicolas Bruno added another 12. For Montpellier, Palacios (19) and Lopez Pascual (14) formed a strong offensive line, but Nicolas Le Goff, who returned after a long absence, had limited involvement and scored only 4 points.
Guaguas' path in the tournament began in the qualifications, where the Spanish team eliminated Levski Sofia in the third preliminary round.
After the victory over Montpellier, the Spanish champion is now among the top eight teams in Europe, and in the quarterfinals, a clash with the Italian powerhouse Perugia awaits them.
