The door to the final four in the Champions League is already half closed for THW Kiel. The German handball record champion lost his quarter-final first leg in his own hall against Paris Saint-Germain HB on Wednesday with a deserved 27:31 (12:13).
In the second leg next Wednesday (8.45 p.m.) in the French capital, the Bundesliga leaders will have to improve enormously if they want to be in Cologne on June 17th and 18th.
You can rely on Landin
It was the game at eye level that was expected from the start, with the cover rows dominating the first half in the sold-out THW Arena. 13:12 was the break for the French champions, who demanded everything from the people of Kiel. The hosts found it difficult to break up the PSG defense in attack. At the back, however, they could rely on keeper Niklas Landin, who was a bench with six saves.
Kiel fights, but Paris is too ripped off
The German record champions didn’t really get going after the change of sides. Clear solutions were hardly to be seen in attack. Significant: Only after a good six minutes did Magnus Landin score the first THW goal in the second half with a seven-metre throw (13:15, 37th).
With Landin as the impetus, the “Zebras” caught up in the meantime and equalized after 45 minutes to 19:19. Now the hall was completely there and the momentum on the part of the people from Kiel. That didn’t make PSG nervous. Driven on by Luc Steins, whom THW could barely get a grip on, the guests drew away by four goals – 27:23 (54th).
The insecurity of the people of Kiel was great. Sander Sagosen was the only reliable size, scored regularly. But that was not enough against the concentrated Parisians. When Hendrik Pekeler also saw the red card shortly before the end, the game was over from the hosts’ point of view.
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NDR 2 Sports | 05/10/2023 | 11:03 p.m
