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The German handball record champion Kiel is gaining self-confidence for the final tournament of the Champions League by winning the top game in the Bundesliga. The lions, on the other hand, struggle with their own performance.
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Kiel (dpa) – When the victory against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen was certain, the players of the THW Kiel hopped in circles and shouted euphorically: “Hey, hey, hey.”
There was praise for the performance after the 32:23 in the Bundesliga top game on Wednesday against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen: “We were ready from the first minute and had an answer for everything,” said THW managing director Viktor Szilagyi .
With the win, the Kiel team moved 22: 2 points in one game less than one point to leaders SG Flensburg-Handewitt (23: 3). The lions said goodbye to the title race with 21: 7 points for the first time.
December was anything but planned for the “zebras”. After a total of three corona cases, the entire Kiel team had to be in quarantine for ten days. THW backcourt player Harald Reinkind, who scored seven goals against his ex-club on Wednesday, was able to gain something positive from the time-out: “These ten days were certainly not the best in terms of training. But the break was good for the body. That was the vacation, which we otherwise never have, “said the left-hander.
Löwen playmaker Andy Schmid was particularly dissatisfied with the final phase: “We broke in completely at the back and front, so nothing meshed anymore. That’s why it was a lesson from THW,” said the Swiss.
Left winger Uwe Gensheimer was also frustrated: “The result does not reflect our performance. The THW, however, had more penetration in the backcourt. They were superior to us,” said the captain of the German national team. “In the first and also in the second half, we gave up the game after a good start. We missed the mentality and the freshness.”
Gensheimer did not want to accept the excuse that THW Kiel had the opportunity to cure itself due to the quarantine: “I don’t think that was an advantage. You could just as well say that THW could not train and was therefore at a disadvantage is. “
Both clubs are back to duty after Christmas. The Rhein-Neckar Löwen receive the promoted HSC 2000 Coburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday. For the THW Kiel, the highlight of the year is on Monday and Tuesday: In the final tournament of the Champions League 2019/20, the North Germans will play for the crown of European handball.
Kiel meets Telekom Veszprem in the semifinals. Against the Hungarian record champions, the THW lost in the current group stage of the premier class with 33:41. But that has no relevance for managing director Szilagyi: “A Final Four is always something different, completely different rules apply and it doesn’t matter what happened before.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201224-99-804930 / 2
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