The German handball record champion THW Kiel crowned its strong preliminary round in the Champions League with group victory after reaching the quarter-finals.
Thanks to the 33:22 (17:15) at the end of the preliminary round against the Croatian representative RK Zagreb, the Zebras, as winners of Group A, can face an easier opponent in the fight for a place in the round of the best eight (April 24th and May 1st). at the Final Four in Cologne at the beginning of June.
“We can be very happy with the eleven-goal win, and winning the group is not a given. Now we’re looking forward to the rest of the game,” said backcourt player Nikola Bilyk, describing his team’s positive interim result in an NDR interview.
Against Zagreb, Kiel left no doubt about its determination to successfully complete the group phase. Coach Filip Jicha’s team, for whom the European premier class was the last serious chance of winning the title, converted a 0:2 into a 9:2, but allowed the guests from the Balkans to come close again by the break. “Before every game, we wish that we could play 60 minutes of perfect handball. But life is not a dream concert,” said Bilyk about the weaknesses in the first section.
After the break, the hosts decided the match with another run of seven goals to take a 24:15 lead. In the final phase, the guests put up little resistance, so that the North Germans were able to confidently run down the clock.
The home team’s most successful thrower, whose fourth and last triumph in the Champions League was four years ago, was Niclas Ekberg with nine goals. Nikola Bilyk was on the top scorer list seven times. Kiel’s captain Domagoj Duvnjak was successful twice against his former club, where the Croatian started his career.