That could be the preliminary decision in the fight for the title of the Handball Bundesliga: Leader THW Kiel won on the 28th match day at the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, competitor Füchse Berlin failed.
Leader THW Kiel extended its lead in the Bundesliga on the 28th Bundesliga matchday. The German record champions won the Rhein-Neckar Löwen on Wednesday (May 3rd, 2023) with 31:27 (15:11) and thus continued the successful series of the past few weeks.
Foxes Berlin slip up in Stuttgart
The pursuer Füchse Berlin, who had the same number of points so far, suffered an unexpected 28:32 (14:14) defeat at TVB Stuttgart. The previous second in the table weakened itself, Viktor Kirejew and Milos Vujovic saw the red card.
Despite being sent off in the 48th minute, Vujovic was still the foxes’ top scorer with six goals.
Sagosen surprised by Berlin
In front of 13,200 spectators in the Mannheim Arena, which was sold out for the first time in four years, Kiel played with concentration from the start and once again had strong support in Denmark’s world champion goalkeeper Niklas Landin. The best THW pitcher was Sander Sagosen with seven goals.
“It was a very important win that we are very happy about”said Sagosen and was also happy about the Berlin mistake: “It’s a surprise, but good news for us.” He described his own recipe for success as follows: “The power density is so tight, we go into every game as if it were a knockout game.”
Kretzschmar thinks Kiel’s slip is “unimaginable”
Since Kiel no longer have to play a top team in the remaining seven games, they go into the final phase of the season as the hottest title contenders. “It is inconceivable that the THW will leave something behind“, said Berlin’s sports director Stefan Kretzschmar and added with a view to the painful bankruptcy in Stuttgart: “That’s brutal to swallow.”
The foxes were initially clearly on course for victory and 14:9 in the lead, which was gambled away by a 0:8 run shortly before and after the break. “After that everything collapsed”, Kretzschmar complained. There were also red cards against goalkeeper Viktor Kirejew and left winger Milos Vujovic. “It’s a major setback”said coach Jaron Siewert.
Magdeburg keeps up
SC Magdeburg held on in the title race. Last year’s champion achieved a completely unchallenged 37:23 (18:10) win at HC Erlangen. Kiel now leads the table with 45:9 points ahead of Magdeburg (45:11), with 43:11 points the foxes have fallen back to third place.