Paris continue Kiel’s Sunday curse

THW Kiel cannot win on a Sunday at the VELUX EHF FINAL4: For the fourth straight time since 2013, the German side lost their second match in LANXESS arena.

Like in 2013 and 2015 – both times against Kielce – they were defeated in the 3/4 match against Paris Saint-Germain Handball on Sunday, though their loss in the final against Flensburg in 2014 is perhaps the defeat that still haunts them most.

PSG’s 29:27 win was the third for Noka Serdarusic’s squad against his former team this season, after they recorded two victories in the group phase.

“I am really proud of Paris today because we showed character,” said Daniel Narcisse.

“After the semi-finals one could see that the teams were a bit mentally injured, but both teams showed that we deserve to be here. We are happy to win this game.”

Again Mikkel Hansen reached double figures in his scoring tally, netting ten times as he did in the semi on Saturday to finish the season with 141 goals.

16 saves by goalkeeper Niklas Landin and eight goals from Christian Dissinger were not enough to end Kiel’s ‘Sunday curse’, even though top PSG star Nikola Karabatic was on the bench for 60 minutes.

VELUX EHF FINAL4 3/4 match:

Paris Saint-German Handball (FRA) vs THW Kiel (GER) 29:27 (15:11)
Official match report

Paris were more eager and efficient in attack, and again had goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer as their insurance between the posts – thus the two-goal advantage at the final whistle was well deserved.

After creating an easy 7:4 advantage early on, Paris lost control of the match a little, but still pulled ahead by five goals at 12:7 – and nearly kept this distance through until the break.

Omeyer had made nine of his total 14 saves before the break and defeated Landin in the goalkeeper duel, though the Dane saved all three of PSG’s penalty shots before half-time.

At times the match was a kind of Paris versus Christian Dissinger battle, as the young THW left back was by far the most dangerous shooter on his team. After 30 minutes, Dissinger had already netted five times – after his missed shot in Saturday’s semi against Veszprém caused the period of extra time that led to Kiel’s downfall.

Mikkel Hansen had no trouble paving the way to his second golden ball as VELUX EHF Champions League top scorer, after he achieved the feat first in the 2011/12 season.

In the end, his new personal record is 141 strikes for the season, which took him 28 goals ahead of Momir Ilic before Veszprém’s Serbian back entered the court for the final against Kielce.

But from the first minute of the second half on, Kiel showed their other face. It took the three-time Champions League winners only ten minutes to level the result again at 19:19.  

"It was a unusually good game for a match for third place," said THW coach Alfred Gislason.

"Of course we wanted to play well and I am really satisfied on how my team played. In the first half Paris was leading by three to four goals. We played very well in the second half."

Led by Domagoj Duvnjak and backed by Landin, the ‘Zebras’ were on fire as the second half progressed, while PSG lost their pace and rhythm in attack. The French champions became frantic as Kiel played like a Swiss clock, taking the lead at 21:20 and turning the match around.

Everything was open again. Narcisse and Sergiy Onufryienko kept Paris’ hopes alive, but Landin had clearly taken the lead ahead of Omeyer in the save statistics and Kiel’s Duvnjak and Dissinger began to score from all cylinders.

But five minutes before the end, Kiel had to cope with a red card against their defence specialist Ilja Brozovic.

Paris did not immediately make the most of the numerical advantage, but slowly reclaimed their first lead after minute 42 again at 28:27 with Hansen’s ninth goal – two minutes before the end.

Hansen’s tenth strike decided it all, when he took the score to 29:27 with 15 seconds on the clock.