20:54
The launch is further delayed. Apparently, a PSG supporter fell out of the fan block in the tumult and first needs medical attention.
20:48
By the way, it hasn’t started here yet and we’re a little late. This is probably due to the fact that you can’t see much in the hall, since there’s a lot of lighting going on in the stands.
20:41
We can expect a hot game just because it’s almost 30 degrees in the hall. In addition, the home fans are already stepping on the gas.
20:31
The hosts may have to do without their superstar and top scorer Mikkel Hansen, who had to end his season prematurely after complications following knee surgery, but they still have a world-class squad. Above all, the 2.15 meter tall backcourt giant Dainis Kristopans, pivot Kamil Syprzak and playmaker Luc Steins repeatedly put their stamp on the games of the French champions. In front of their home crowd, the French want to create a good starting position for the second leg in Germany. “Now Kiel has to come to us. This quarter-final is like a final,” said coach Raúl González in the run-up to today’s duel.
20:25
Not only because of the cup victory, the Kielers go into the game with a big chest. THW has won all of the last seven competitive games and is still the first pursuer of Magdeburg in the league. Most recently, the zebras celebrated a 31:20 victory in Leipzig. Filip Jícha’s players were correspondingly optimistic before the first leg. “We’ve been waiting for this game for a long time and can’t wait for it to finally start,” THW captain Domagoj Duvnjak clarified. Left winger Rune Dahmke added: “We don’t have to hide. We have a high quality and if we reach our maximum we can beat any team.”
20:17
It’s been almost exactly a year since these two heavyweights of European handball last faced each other. It was also about getting into the Final Four. In the first leg, THW narrowly won 31:29 in a home arena in front of a crowd of ghosts, in the second leg PSG turned up the heat and made it into the semi-finals with a 34:28 win. So now there is a chance for revenge for the zebras. Both teams go into the match confidently and already with a title in their luggage. Kiel celebrated its twelfth DHB Cup victory two weeks ago, Paris recently won the French championship for the eighth time in a row by winning the prestige duel against Montpellier.
20:17
Good evening and welcome to the quarter-final first leg between Paris Saint-Germain and THW Kiel in the EHF Champions League! It starts at 20:45 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin!