Shock in Flensburg, enthusiasm in Denmark

People in an around SG Flensburg-Handewitt were more or less in shock after the ruling VELUX EHF Champions League winners suffered their largest Champions League defeat ever, as KIF Kolding København demolished the North German top team by no less than 35:21 Sunday.

In Denmark, on the other hand, people were thrilled with the wins for both Danish Champions League teams in the first round, and obviously with KIF Kolding København's huge win in particular.

“I am particularly sorry for the 300 fans who travelled with us to Kolding,” stated SG director Dierk Schmäschke, while head coach Ljubomir Vranjes critised the attitude among the players.

“I missed commitment and will power. You cannot act like this if you wear the jersey of SG and your heart is beating for the club,” Vranjes told SG Flensburg-Handewitt's website.

Flensburg's Swedish coach refused to use to relatively many new players in the squad as an excuse for the big defeat.

“Of course, new players need time, but will power and heart blood are qualities you can show from the start,” found Vranjes, while the director demanded hard work.

“With regards to all the English weeks we are facing, we have to get out of this hole in a hurry. We must work harder and take the time for the necessary talks,” found Dierk Schmäschke.

Monday morning, after having had some time to digest the match, goalkeeper Mattias Andersson looked back on a match, in which more or less everything went wrong for his team.

“We practically did not succeed with anything, while Kolding succeeded with more or less everything. We were not good enough when we had the ball, and we also failed in the defence, where I was not good enough in goal. That is the way it is in sport sometimes. We have to get on from this fast, though, as we have a Bundesliga match Wednesday, and another Champions League match Sunday,” Mattias Andersson told ehfCL.com

Kolding keep their feet on the ground

In Denmark, joy and enthusiasm rules, after both Danish teams got a great start for the VELUX EHF Champions League, with a 26:21 win for Aalborg Handball away against French champions Dunkerque HB Gran Littoral and Kolding's huge win against Flensburg.

KIF Kolding København coach Aron Kristiansson gave his defence and goalkeeper Kasper Hvidt the main part of the credit for the win.

“Flensburg have a strong team, but our defence and our goal keeper stopped them,” the Icelandic coach said.

“We got our game going from the start, while the same could not be said about Flensburg,“ KIF's left back Bo Spellerberg found.

"We played some good handball and stood well in the defence, where Kasper (Hvidt) also saved a lot of shots. Towards the end, then, there were also times where our defence did not have to work all that hard, and where Kasper could still easily save the shots, as Flensburg seemed to give up a little at that point,” Bo Spellerberg told ehfCL.com.

Despite the big win, he and his teammates keep their feet on the ground.

“Of course, we are happy about the big win, as we had never dreamt of a win of that size, but it is our aim to play well all the way through the group phase and also in the knock-out matches which we did not do last season. It would be a pity if we had played our best game of the season already at this early stage,” added Bo Spellerberg.