Kiel (dpa) – The German record champion THW Kiel has qualified early for the quarter-finals in the Handball Champions League. The North Germans won their away game against the Croatian champions HC Zagreb with 28:27 (12:15).
The best throwers were Domagoj Duvnjak and Harald Reinkind with five goals each for Kiel and David Mandic with eight goals for the hosts.
No matter how the European Handball Federation (EHF) decides on the games of the suspended team HC Brest from Belarus, the North Germans can no longer be pushed out of one of the top two places in Group A and skip the playoff round. On the last group game day in the coming week, THW has no games because the game against Brest has already been cancelled.
The Kiel team had to do without goalkeeper Niklas Landin (appendectomy), Rune Dahmke (Corona), Nikola Bilyk (thigh problems) and Niclas Ekberg (gastrointestinal infection) in Croatia. The absence of the quartet was particularly noticeable when Zagreb made a 9:6 lead (16th) from a 2:4 deficit (8th). With a lot of struggle the THW came to 25:23 (51st). The Norwegian Reinkind then scored the decisive goal a few seconds before the final whistle.