#Handball #Champions #League #Magdeburg #shaking
Magdeburg lost to Polish champions Industria Kielce 26:27 (13:14), Kiel lost to Montpellier HB from France 30:39 (16:20). In the second leg on May 2nd (6:45 p.m./DAZN and Dyn), the THW needs a sensational comeback in order to reach the final tournament in Cologne (June 8th/9th).
Magdeburg can live with the narrow defeat after an intense duel in Kielce. The second leg takes place on May 1st (8.45 p.m./DAZN and Dyn). “It’s only half time. We still have one game in Magdeburg. That’s the most important thing at the moment,” said Gisli Kristjansson, who scored six goals. The most successful Magdeburg thrower was Felix Claar, who beat Andreas Wolff eight times in the hosts’ goal.
The former European champion, who is supposedly being courted by Magdeburg, did not have an outstanding game; he only made 8 saves in 30 shots at goal. Nevertheless, the Bundesliga leaders rarely found a way to counter Poland’s strong defense. Despite the early red card for Dylan Nahi (10th), they secured a narrow victory and a good starting position for the second leg.
But the people of Magdeburg remain confident. “That was just the first part of the game,” said goalkeeper Sergey Hernandez, adding: “One goal difference is not what we would like, but Kielce are pretty strong at home. We will analyze what we did wrong, and fix it next week.”
Kiel will also try that and has its hands full with it. In Montpellier, the four-time champion was inferior in all respects. Now the first titleless season since 2018 is looming. Eric Johansson and Mykola Bilyk were successful a total of 15 times, but the Kiel defense had little to do against the strong hosts around Yanis Lenne, Lucas Pellas (7 each) and Stas Skube (6).
