The German handball record champion THW Kiel suffered a bitter blow on matchday 7 of the Champions League. The duel with the Danish champion Aalborg Handbold was lost on Thursday evening with 18:27 (6:11). Outstanding player among the guests: former THW goalkeeper Niklas Landin.
While the Danish world-class keeper and his teammates celebrated wildly after the final siren, his former teammates were perplexed and dismayed. The Kiel team, who had been doing so well in the Champions League so far, had their limits painfully shown by Aalborg Handbold. After all: Despite the second defeat in the premier class, coach Filip Jicha’s team is still at the top of Group A with ten points. But the North Germans missed the chance to break away from their pursuers. Now Aalborg is within one point of the THW.
The “Zebras” don’t have time to recover. Things will continue to be challenging for them this weekend – in the Bundesliga. The defending champions, who are only in fifth place in the table with 14:10 points, will welcome the still unbeaten leaders Füchse Berlin on Sunday (2 p.m., live on NDR television and in the live stream on NDR.de).
THW professionals went twelve minutes without scoring
Four days after the clear Bundesliga success against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, the Schleswig-Holsteiners got off to a really good start in the home game of the “premier class” against the North Jutlanders. In the goalkeeper duel with Niklas Landin, Samir Bellahcene still had an advantage in the early stages. The Frenchman fended off four of the five shots at his goal, laying the foundation for the hosts to take a 4-2 lead (9th minute). But with every minute that passed, the man between the posts for the Danish title holders increased.
It began with Landin fending off a seven-meter penalty from Niclas Ekberg and, shortly afterwards, a free throw from the Swedish right winger. And with that, the world handball player of 2019 and 2021 had apparently reached operating temperature. Starting from 5:5 (15th), Landin closed his box completely – for a period of twelve minutes, which is a very long time in handball. In addition to numerous throws from the game, the 34-year-old also fended off further seven-meter throws from his brother Magnus (16th) and Elias Ellefsen a Skipagötu (25th).
Only in the 27th minute did Ekberg break the spell and let the THW fans among the 7,150 spectators cheer again. It was the goal to make it 6:11 – and that was also the halftime score. The German record champions scored just six goals in the first 30 minutes against the long-standing Kiel number one, who moved to Aalborg last summer after eight years in the Schleswig-Holstein state capital.
Jicha is angry – but “zebras” can’t get close anymore
The North Germans’ hopes of catching up quickly suffered a serious setback. Landin continued to fend off a series of shots and played a large part in Aalborg leading 18:10 after 39 minutes. Jicha took a break and raised his voice to make it clear to his players that they now had to do a lot more. But things didn’t get much better after that.
THW Kiel – Aalborg Handbold 18:27 (6:11)
Goals Kiel: Ekberg (7/4 penalty), Bilyk (5), Landin Jacobsen (2), Duvnjak (1), Reinkind (1), Johannson (1), Pekeler (1)
Goals Aalborg: Barthold (5), Nilsson (4), Björnsen (4), Hansen (3/3), Hoxer Hangaard (3), Hald Jensen (2), Juul (2), Thurin (1), Vlah (1), Möllgaard Jensen (1), Antonsen (1)
Viewers: 7,150
There was simply nothing going on that evening – not against these Danes and their outstanding goalkeeper. Eight minutes before the end of the game, the North Germans were ten goals behind (15:25). The game was decided long before the final siren. The most successful THW professional was Ekberg with seven goals, four of which were from seven meters.
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NDR 2 Sport | November 16, 2023 | 11:03 p.m
