Three clubs from Germany, two from Spain and each one from France, Russia and Hungary meet in the next stage of Men’s CL.
Löwen and Kiel complete quarterfinals
Three German teams have qualified for the quarterfinals of Men’s Champions League. After HSV Hamburg went through to the next stage on Saturday despite the defeat against Kielce on Saturday, Rhein Neckar Löwen and THW Kiel followed them by beating Valladolid and FCK.
Due to those results the quarterfinals are finalized – and only teams qualified for the next stage which had been number one or two in the group phase. Aside the three Germans two teams from Spain and each one from Hungary, France, Russia are among the best eight teams.
Last 16, second leg:
Rhein Neckar Löwen – Pevafersa Valladolid 37:33 (21:15)
After the narrow victory in Valladolid Rhein Neckar Löwen showed a brilliant performance on home soil, were much better than the Spaniards and qualified clearly for the quarterfinals. Outstanding player was Norwegian pivot Bjarte Myrhol, who scored nine goals. Valladolid was very weak in defense and couldn’t stop the Germans. As the Löwen were acting, Valladolid could only react. The game was decided at the break, as Löwen increased their lead to six goals. After the 7:3 Valladolid coach Juan Carlos Pastor took his green card to take a time-out. But nothing happened, in contrast: The Germans extended the gap to 9:3 and 14:6. Valladolid had to thank their 42 year old goalkeeper Tomas Svensson that the match didn’t become a disaster. Even when the Löwen changed a lot and gave playing time to the younger ones the gap remained quite comfortable in a one sided match. Only in the final stage Valladolid came closer a little bit. “We never found our rhythm”, Pastor said. “We were much more aggressive than Valladolid,” Löwen player Olafur Stefansson replied. 13.200 spectators were a great audience for this first k.o. match on home soil. Top scorer for Valladolid were Avila and Perales with each six goals.
THW Kiel – FCK Kopenhagen 29:23 (13:12)
Thanks to the trio Filip Jicha, Momir Illic and Daniel Narcisse, who scored 21 of 29 goals THW Kiel is through to the quarterfinals, after they had already won the first leg in Denmark 33:31.But FCK stood strong for 40 minutes and kept the game open, before the host decided the match.“When Kiel accelerated the speed it was impossible for us to win,” FCK coach Martin Boquist said. Marcus Ahlm and Kim Andersson had to be replaced on THW side, and Copenhague played a strong starting phase. At the score of 7:4 and 9:6 FCK was in the quarterfinals in addition of both matches. But then Kiel took control again and turned he match at the score of 13:12. Only in the ten minutes after the break FCK was close, then THW pre decided the game at 21:16 and 24:17. In the end the Kiel victory was quite clear. Top scorer for FCK was Atterhäll with seven goals.
TEXT:
Björn Pazen