Handball: Kiel also loses top game with the lions

The THW Kiel is sliding deeper and deeper into the crisis and can almost already check out the title.The Zebras lost the “eternal” top game on Sunday at Rhein-Neckar Löwen 28:30 (11:13) in the title defender’s title.With eight minus points after seven games, coach Alfred Gislason’s team hardly stands a chance in the race for the championship.

Outstanding players were Lion Captain Andy Schmid with nine goals and international Hendrik Pekeler (8).Kiel continued the desolate start of the season – the tight victory this week in the Champions League against Danish champions Aalborg Handball (27:26) was obviously only an intermediate high.

In front of 11,572 spectators in the SAP Arena, the guests started aggressively and even took the lead.Former lion Niklas Landin in the Kieler Tor also defused several throws of his former teammates, who needed a few minutes to warm up.

After a two-minute penalty against Patrick Wiencek (12th) the hosts got better and better.Led by the strong Schmid, the lions set themselves apart somewhat (10:7 after 19 minutes).The injured playmaker Domagoj Duvnjak was once again sorely missed in the Kiel offensive.

Before the match, the record-breaking champion had enjoyed himself in the role of the underdog.The fact that experienced Christian Zeitz had already finished the championship (“Der Zug ist abgefahren”) and Gislason had praised the lions in the highest notes (“Wir spielen bei Top-Favoriten”), however, the hosts on their website dismissed them as “psycho games”.

“They can’t lose many games if they still want to become champions,”said Lion coach Nikolaj Jacobsen, whose team lost their second victory in the top flight this week at NBC Nantes’ French team (26-26).

The hosts were the better team at the start of the second half.Schmidt and Pekeler, who will return to Kiel next summer, quickly expanded the lead to five goals (17:13 after 38 minutes).Andreas Palicka in the goal also made the THW desperate with strong parades.

For the lions, the Kiel game was the prelude to the “toughest week in the history of the club” (Jacobsen).The Baden team will first receive the leaders of the standings Hanover on Tuesday, then the TV Hüttenberg on Thursday.Two days later, the heavy away game in the Champions League at Swedish champions IFK Kristianstad is on the agenda.

Old champion VfL Gummersbach, who lost his last game on Sunday at 24-28 at the rising star Eulen Ludwigshafen, has a completely different concern: he is stuck in the cellar of the table as penultimate.GWD Minden also suffered a defeat, losing 26:30 (14:16) against MT Melsungen.Ascendant TV Hüttenberg saved at least one point after a clear halftime gap against Frisch Auf Göppingen at 28:28 (11:16).