THW Kiel celebrated the next victory in the fight for the German handball championship. After some initial difficulties, the record champion prevailed 37:30 (16:13) at TVB Stuttgart and consolidated the lead in the table with 49:9 points.
On Sunday, the pursuers SC Magdeburg and Füchse Berlin (both 47:11) are still two points behind THW. Three days after the first leg in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain (27:31) and four days before the second duel with the French, Kiel was slow to get up to speed. After three minutes, the host Swabians were leading 3-0, and shortly afterwards the referees punished a defensive action by Petter Överby against TVB playmaker Egon Hanusz with the red card.
Kiel keeper Mrkva strong
After 10:10 (18 th ) the defense of the North Germans stabilized more and more. Stuttgart didn’t score in the last eight minutes before the break. Kiel’s keeper Tomas Mrkva, who came on for the hapless Niklas Landin in the middle of the first half, played a big part in this.
In the second half, the hosts reared up again and reduced the lead to 27:30 (51). But they couldn’t prevent the 17th defeat in the 17th game against THW. The best throwers were Sander Sagosen and Miha Zarabec, each with six goals for Kiel, and Sascha Pfattheicher and Adam Lönn, each with five goals for Stuttgart.