Draw and defeat for German handball players – dpa

Flensburg ran in front of the 5066 spectators in the home arena after a completely botched initial phase. After a 1:5 (4th) it was a little later already 2:9 (10th). “We made a lot of simple mistakes,” said SG coach Maik Machulla after the game: “We didn’t give up in the second half, but we didn’t defend well enough either.”

Although the SG was able to reduce the gap to three goals several times in the meantime, the four-goal defeat is a big burden. But giving up is not the thing for the SG players: “We have a tough mission ahead of us, but nothing is impossible,” said Icelandic backcourt player Teitur Einarsson.

The THW was not discouraged by a quarter of an hour delay due to an accident in the hall. Goalkeeper Niklas Landin saved a penalty throw by Kamil Syprzak, in attack the Dane’s front men put the North Germans 5-1 up to the sixth minute.

The “Zebras” started the second half with a 3-0 run to 19:14 (34th). A brief cover against Dutch PSG middleman Luc Steins was intended to disrupt the hosts’ flow of play. But Paris didn’t let themselves be left behind and fought for a deserved draw.

Both Kiel and Flensburg can devote themselves completely to preparing for the second leg in the coming days. In the Bundesliga, THW and SG have no games at the weekend. The originally scheduled games have been rescheduled.

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