Champions League: Kiel beats Zagreb and wins Champions League group

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Champions League Kiel beats Zagreb and wins Champions League group

Kiel’s Niclas Ekberg celebrates a goal. photo

© Uwe Anspach/dpa

At the end of the preliminary round in the handball premier class, Kiel won 33:22 against the Croatian champion HC Zagreb. This means that first place is confirmed after reaching the quarter-finals early.

The THW Kiel finished the preliminary round of the Handball Champions League in first place. On Wednesday, the German record champions beat Croatian champions HC Zagreb 33:22 (17:15) and won Group A with 22:6 points. Even before the last matchday it was clear that Kiel would skip the playoffs and move straight into the quarter-finals. The hosts’ best thrower was Niclas Ekberg with nine goals.

The German record champions, who had to do without the injured goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene and the also injured playmaker Elias Ellefsen á Skipagötu, seemed to quickly get the game under control. After a 0:2 (2nd minute), the THW didn’t allow the guests to score in the following ten minutes and ran away to 9:2. But then the North Germans lost the thread a bit. When the score was 11:9 (19th), Kiel’s coach Filip Jicha took a timeout and loudly called his players to order.

The Croatians reduced the deficit to 11:12 (20th) and 13:14 (27th) before the break, but it wasn’t enough. At the beginning of the second period, the guests went almost twelve minutes without scoring their own goal. It will be clear who the Kiel team can face in the quarter-finals when the last games in Group B are over late on Thursday evening and the composition of the playoff games has been determined.

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