Just ten days after the European Championships, the title race in the Handball Bundesliga gets underway again with two cracking games.
First, defending champion THW Kiel plays against league leaders SC Magdeburg for its last chance to win the championship. Then there is a hot duel between Füchse Berlin and SG Flensburg-Handewitt.
THW Kiel is fully challenged
While the top trio from Magdeburg, Berlin (both 32:4 points) and Flensburg (28:8) have already brilliantly mastered the return to everyday life last weekend by reaching the Cup Final 4, the THW has to compete in the prestigious duel follow up with the Champions League winner. With a six point gap to the top duo of Magdeburg and Berlin, only a win counts for the North Germans this Wednesday (from 8:30 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de).
“If we want to have any chance in the title race, we obviously have to win the game. If you lose this game, you would lose faith in the title,” said Kiel’s backcourt ace Mykola Bilyk.
Coach Filip Jicha wants to reach heads
Everyone involved would have preferred a relaxed gallop after the exhausting European Championships. Instead, the record champion will immediately have a showdown with the front runner. “Each of us knows that this game is important. Maybe it is even the most important of the season, because we want to continue in the league on the path we took before Christmas,” emphasized the THW goalkeeper, who was decorated with European Championship gold Samir Bellahcene.
Kiel’s coach Filip Jicha sees his most important task as “overplaying the software in the players’ heads. We have to quickly get to the point where we play our 6-0 defense like we are used to at THW Kiel. The Danish team has to do that , Swedish or German 6-0 variant out of our heads,” said Jicha. He did not let any doubts arise as to whether it would be successful: “We are ready.”
Magdeburg’s players dissatisfied after the European Championship
But that also applies to the SCM, which immediately got back into full swing with a 34:24 defeat in the cup quarter-finals against cup defenders Rhein-Neckar Löwen. That even surprised coach Bennet Wiegert, because “you never know where you stand after a European Championship.”
Especially since the successful coach said he had to have a lot of conversations with his protégés after the tournament. “I didn’t get any satisfied players back because everyone wanted to achieve more with their national teams,” reported Wiegert.
The confident performance on Sunday evening strengthened our self-confidence. “I don’t think there should be any major reason for uncertainty after the performance,” said Wiegert. However: “Having to survive in Kiel right now is the challenge in the strongest league in the world. We already know what awaits us there.”
“Little key game” for foxes
The title rivals from Berlin and Flensburg will be watching closely before they face each other in the capital just 24 hours later. “It’s a small key game and we have to win at home if we want to become German champions,” said Denmark’s superstar and European Championship top scorer Mathias Gidsel.
Those responsible in Berlin, on the other hand, are trying not to attribute the game to a final character. “There isn’t a game in the second half of the season that isn’t groundbreaking. That’s why the game has no more significance than any other game,” said sports director Stefan Kretzschmar. And Füchse coach Jaron Siewert made it clear: “Nothing will be decided in February.”