Perfect dress rehearsal for Kiel

Three of the four teams competing in the German cup are gearing up for the VELUX EHF Champions League Quarter-finals and were given a perfect opportunity to face top quality opposition before the upcoming first leg.

For the third year running and the ninth time in the club’s history, the "Zebras" came out on top in the two-day event.

Fellow quarter-finalists and local rivals, SG Flensburg-Handewitt, were stern opposition in the final, but Kiel ran out 33:30 winners in the end.

"It was a tough job. In the next weeks we want to win more titles. But we know how much we have to work for it," said captain Marcus Ahlm

Flensburg raced into an early lead in front of 13,000 spectators in Hamburg and an upset looked to be on the cards.

There were a number of outstanding individual performances in the first 30 minutes, Thomas Mogensen was an excellent leader and goalkeeper Mattias Andersson was difficult to beat.

Steffen Weinhold third goal of the evening completed a run of six goals for Flensburg, giving them a 15:10 lead.

However, the efforts in the previous day’s semi-finals were to prove decisive.

While it took Flensburg extra-time to beat HSV Hamburg 26:25, the defending champions had a relatively lighter task, beating MT Melsungen 35:23.

"I thought that it would pay off at some point that we could spare much power in the semi-final. So we didn´t sit hopeless in the dressing room," said THW coach Alfred Gislason.

Kiel had a flying start after the break, turning a 12:16 deficit into a 21:17 lead.

"We missed the opening period of the second half. I don´t know what happened there," explained Flensburg coach Ljubomir Vranjes.

A small consolation for Flensburg was the awarding of Mattias Andersson as the best goalkeeper and and as the best player of the event.

Kiel’s Marko Vujin was the top scorer with 15 goals over the two games.

Kiel continue their hunt for trophies against Veszprém in the quarter-finals on Sunday 21 April, while Flensburg face HSV Hamburg once again over two legs, which will be their sixth and seventh meeting of the season.