German balance: 3-1

3:1 is the balance of the four German clubs after the first round of EHF Champions League. Following the victory of HSV Hamburg against Viborg and the defeat of Flensburg against Ciudad Real on Thursday, VfL Gummersbach and THW Kiel won their Saturday matches.

Kiel paid a high price for the victory in Montpelier: Nikola Karabatic (see our report) injured.

“It would have been better to lose in Montpellier and return home with a healthy team instead,” said THW manager, Uwe Schwenker after the 34:32 (20:12) in Montpellier. This was the first home defeat of the French club in the last eight years.

Karabatic fell on his shoulder after being fouled in the 35th minute when scoring to make it 21:15. The French player will not be able to play for weeks or even months. He will be checked in hospital this Monday.

After the 20:12 lead at halftime, it turned out to be a close game in the final minutes when Montpelier equalised. Kiel’s top scorers were Vid Kavticnik and Henrik Lundström who scored the decisive goals of a tough match. Kiel seemed to win clearly until the 49th minute when they had a 31:24 lead. Only seven minutes later the score was 32:31 for Kiel, and after that Guigou scored the 32:32.

Bojinovic only hit the post and Kiel came back to make it 33:32 and the 34:32. Despite the victory, there was not much joy on the THW side due to this injury.

Easier weekend for Gummersbach

VfL Gummersbach won more comfortably against Valur Reykjavik. With a high speed handball, the German team ran over the Icelandic champions and finished the match with a clear 33:23 (19:10). Gummersbach dominated after 3:3 and scored eight goals in a row to make it 11:3 and 17:7 a few minutes later.

Gummersbach’s Icelandic coach, Alfred Gislasson, was not totally satisfied. He criticised his team for being too slow in going back to the defence. But as the lead was really comfortable, Gislasson was able to spare his top players. A top match is coming up on Wednesday against THW Kiel in the Kölnarena. So Reykjavik was able to keep the distance, and Gummersbach started with an important victory – especially as the opponents, Veszprém and Celje, made a draw.

“I am happy that we won this match,” said Gislasson, whose team will miss key player, Valur Gudjon Siggurdson, for some months due to a shoulder operation.

“We put Reykjavik under pressure, our defence was good and after 20 minutes it was clear that we win. I could experiment. I think Reykjavik had too much respect.”