They were the first to come and they hope to be the last on the winner’s podium on Sunday - HSV Hamburg arrived late on Wednesday evening in Cologne and checked-in to the team hotel after their short flight from Hamburg to Cologne/Bonn airport.

 

“Everybody is fit and the atmosphere in the team is brilliant,” top star Domagoj Duvnjak told ehfCL.com on Thursday morning.

 

On Wednesday his side had their final training session in Hamburg and in Cologne they will have one training session on Thursday and one on Friday ahead of their semi-final against defending champions THW Kiel on Saturday (1st June) at 6pm (local time).

 

“We are relaxed,” Duvnjak added after his team had a walk around the hotel on Thursday morning. “We are happy that our season’s highlight in Cologne is coming close,” the Croatian international said.

 

HSV goalkeeper Johannes Bitter already had his first celebration this week, as his wife gave birth to his third child on Monday and a third son, named Rafael Fredrik. 

Click here for more pictures of the team's arrival.