Troubled with personnel problems, THW Kiel welcomes HBC Nantes in the Champions League today. The 30:38 defeat in the first leg against the French had caused great annoyance for the German handball record champion.
Hardly has THW Kiel set an exclamation mark with the 31:25 win at feared opponents HSG Wetzlar and consolidated second place in the Bundesliga table, when they are already looking ahead again. Tonight (6.45 p.m.) the “Zebras” are playing their next home game in the Champions League. It shouldn’t be easy against HBC Nantes, because the 30:38 rebound in the first leg at the end of October caused a lot of irritation for the Kiel team and especially for coach Filip Jicha.
Kiel’s backcourt extremely thinned out
The second leg should be different. “With our white wall we want to defy our personal problems and put up a hot fight for Nantes,” said THW captain Domagoj Duvnjak. The Croatian is currently even more challenged than usual, because the Kiel backcourt is currently sparsely occupied. In addition to right winger Sven Ehrig (torn cruciate ligament), Eric Johansson (broken metacarpus) and Steffen Weinhold (torn cruciate ligament). Nikola Bilyk (thigh), Karl Wallinius (knee) and Miha Zarabec (calf muscle strain) are also injured.
A week ago, the narrow defeat in Barcelona was due to the lack of personnel. “We ran out of options during the game and then in the end we lacked the dynamism from the backcourt,” said pivot Hendrik Pekeler, who himself had missed the first few months of the season.
Direct jump to the quarterfinals far away
The situation for the German record champions in the European premier class is mixed at best. With only six points in eight games, the originally targeted ranks one and two in Season B and thus the direct leap into the quarterfinals are far away.
“We knew that the beginning of the season would be very difficult due to the long-term absences of Hendrik Pekeler and Sander Sagosen,” explained THW Managing Director Viktor Szilagyi. “But we also know what power we can build up when we have all the players on board again for the second half of the season.” A premature exit – i.e. seventh or eighth place – does not seem realistic in view of the previous performances of the two basement children Celje and Elverum, but something countable against Nantes would be good for THW.
Nantes with many top international handball players
However, the French runner-up has international top players such as playmaker Aymeric Minne, circle player Jeremy Toto, the Spanish left-hander Jorge Maqueda and the Spanish winger with Kauldi Odriozola and Valero Rivera Folch and has so far also been able to rely on the throwing power of the left-handers Thibaud Briet and Alexandre Cavalcanti. So far, Nantes has only lost to top favorites Barcelona and Kielce.
“My team convinces with commitment and intensity,” said HBC coach Gregory Cojean. A real challenge for the “Zebras”, who only have to compete internationally in Aalborg before the long break until February.
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NDR 2 Sports | 08.12.2022 | 11:03 p.m
