Alliance Nîmes Montpellier takes a big step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Champions League

Félix Lebrun a fait le job en remportant le premier point des siens. Midi Libre – LF

Ligue des champions/8e de finale aller. Les frères Lebrun et Esteban Dorr n’ont laissé aucune chance aux Autrichiens de Wels battus 3-0. Le match retour aura lieu le 22 décembre en Autriche. 

For the return of the Champions League to the heart of the Mosson district, 11 years after the epic of the MHSC footballers, the Alliance Nîmes Montpellier pulled out all the stops at the Palais des sports Pierre-de-Coubertin. Always there to fly the flag for their club, Félix and Alexis Lebrun enchanted the audience with their talent.

And even if the stands were not full, far from it, the presentation of the table tennis players had its effect. Not quite up to what the Montpellier public experienced during the WTT Champions of Montpellier won by Félix Lebrun at the Sud de France Arena but still. Lights off, phone flashes on and the athletes entering to Jump by Van Halen followed by Eye of Tiger by Survivor, the public appreciated it. And in terms of applause, of course, the Lebrun brothers were acclaimed.

The show was also and especially there around the table. Félix Lebrun opened the show by losing the first set of the 8th final first leg of the Champions League against the Austrians from Wels. But the world number 4 with the pen-holding grip was a treat by winning the next three (3-1).

Alexis Lebrun: “Still great things to experience”

In the process, his brother Alexis gave no quarter in the Hauts-de-Massane. He crushed his opponent in three well-conducted sets (3-0). To finish the job, Esteban Dorr dominated the Maltese Felix Wetzel despite a second set left to his opponent (3-1). With one foot in the quarter-finals, Lebrun and company will travel to Wels in northern Austria on December 22 to validate their qualification.

“It's always a pleasure to see the Montpellier crowd again, even if there were fewer people this time,” Alexis Lebrun emphasized. “We played a really good match together. The whole team is involved, which allowed us to give the best of ourselves. Before the end of the year, we still have some great things to experience: the last league matches and the return match in the Champions League. We can't wait to play these matches before enjoying the holidays.”