THW Kiel got off to a weak start in the Handball Champions League with 4:4 points. An away win at HBC Nantes, who is ahead of the “Zebras” in Group B and has so far lost only once in all competitions, would be all the more important on Thursday (8.45 p.m.).
The THW travels with a tailwind to the undefeated leaders of the French league, having just beaten the previous Bundesliga leaders Rhein-Neckar Löwen with 32:29. That’s why keeper Niklas Landin, one of the guarantors of victory on Sunday with 16 saves, is confident about the fifth preliminary round game in the sold-out witch’s cauldron of Nantes. “We always want to get two points – no matter where and who we play against. We just have to keep a cool head.”
No win against Nantes yet
Kiel have played two competitive games against Nantes so far. In the group phase of the 2020/2021 series, they suffered a bitter 27:35 home defeat and then scored at least one point in western France at 24:24.
With French playmaker Aymeric Minne, Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Pesic, Spanish left-hander Jorge Maqueda and Spanish left-winger Valero Rivera Folch, Nantes has a number of internationally renowned players. Slovenian pivot Rok Ovnicek announced: “We want to keep collecting points, especially at home.”
THW coach Jicha: “Our bank is pretty empty”
THW captain Domagoj Duvnjak knows how difficult the task is: “Nantes has a very strong team that also appears with a lot of self-confidence.” Coach Filip Jicha is also not entirely happy about the situation in Kiel: “When the pace is brutal, like in Kielce, I sometimes have the feeling that our bench is pretty empty.”
Voigt also has to pass: no left winger available
In Sander Sagosen (ankle), Hendrik Pekeler (Achilles tendon), Sven Ehrig (torn cruciate ligament), Magnus Landin (liver) and Rune Dahmke (torn muscle fiber in the thigh), five top performers are injured. Therefore, the THW signed two players with right winger Yannick Fraatz (Bergischer HC) and left winger Malte Voigt (TSV Altenholz). Because temporary professional Voigt has not received approval from his employer, Jicha will not be available in Nantes as a trained left winger. Playmaker Miha Zarabec will probably play on the wing again.
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NDR 2 Sports | 10/27/2022 | 11:03 p.m
