Without a cruciate ligament patient Nebojsa Simic and other injured service providers, the MT Melsungen prevails in the quarter-final first leg of the European League against Bidasoa Irun. Match winner becomes handball pensioner Carsten Lichtlein.
In the end, it had to judge the world champion: the MT Melsungen won the quarter-final first leg against Bidasoa Irun on Tuesday evening and thus preserved all the chances of the Final Four and even the title. Match winner at the competitive 28:27 win against the Basque became one who has actually been retired for a long time: Carsten Lichtlein, 44 years old.
Lights in the middle of it
Because the goalkeeper Nebojsa Simic, As was known on Tuesdaywith a cruciate ligament rupture, handball pensioners came to an unexpected comeback. The former world and European champion initially moved into the squad for Simic- and in the middle of the second half between the posts.
Lichtlein, who ended his active career in the summer of 2022 and has been working as a goalkeeper coach in Melsungen since then, replaced the previously hapless Adam Morawski and was in the middle of the event. His movements looked really round after a total of 705 Bundesliga games and almost three years in a professional pension, but with four throws held, the goalkeeper had a large part in the success. The Bartenwetzers seemed to inspire his presence alone.
Boarded MT can hope
The MT, who had to do without cruciate ligament patient Simic on Daini’s Kristopans and Nikolaj Enderleit on Tuesday, was extremely difficult against Irun, especially at the beginning of the second half, and was in the meantime with four goals despite a two-point half-time lead. With the substitution of Lichtlein, however, another jerk went through the battered team.
The second leg will take place next Tuesday (9 p.m.) in Spain. A difficult task, which is definitely not unsolvable for MT with such a morality.
