Kiel send a clear signal to Madrid

Four days before their www.ehfTV.com Match of the Week against Madrid, defending VELUX EHF Champions League winners THW Kiel have sent a clear signal of their current strength to Atlético. They won the top match of the German Bundesliga impressively clear by 28:17 (14:7) at EHF Cup participant Rhein Neckar Löwen.

Löwen had been the top ranked by a clear record of 26:0 points before this duel, but in the end Kiel did not only remain unbeaten in their 52nd straight league match (101:1 points), but took the lead in the Bundesliga by 27:1 points now.

“THW played incredible, they were in a league of their own,” was the first reaction of Löwen team captain Oliver Roggisch, who will face Argous from Greece in the re-match of the qualification for the EHF Cup Group Phase next weekend.

And all THW players knew whom to thank most after this demolition of the hosts: goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer. Only in the first half he saved 14 Löwen shots, intermediately his saving percentage was more than 70 percent, in the end it was close to 60%. “I like those big matches, and of course the defence helped me a lot. It was a fantastic evening,” Omeyer said on TV channel Sport1.

Even TV expert and German handball legend Stefan Kretzschmar was highly impressed: “I think I never have seen a goalkeeping performance like this in a crucial match before.” And THW coach Alfred Gislasson praised Omeyer, too: “Sometimes you could not believe what you saw and how he saved. Just brilliant.”

Omeyer had pulled the Löwen’s teeth very early, and backed by his saves THW went away to 7:3 and 10:4 – at the break the distance were already seven goals – the more than 13.000 spectators in the sold-out SAP Arena had been calmed down very quickly. The hosts had to replace their team captain Uwe Gensheimer after he had torn his Achilles in the first leg against Argous – but: “Even with him we would not have been able to win. Kiel was to strong,” said Roggisch.

The Kiel defence stood like a wall, and in attack Filip Jícha was the leader by nine goals. On the other hand, Löwen needed 41 minutes to score their tenth goal – but at this stage the deal had already been sealed at 10:20.

After two weak performances in the VELUX EHF Champions League against RK Celje, Kiel now hope for a success on home ground against Atlético Madrid in the re-match of the last season´s final to remain in the hunter’s position below MKB Veszprém.