Handball: First defeat after 17 games: Melsungen stops the Rhine-Neckar Lions

The Rhine-Neckar Lions suffered their first defeat in the Bundesliga after nine consecutive victories. On the 13th. On the third matchday, the previously unbeaten Mannheim team from Mannheim, which had previously played 17 matches across the board, lost 26:29 (13:15) in the fifth table of MT Melsungen.

The foxes Berlin and the SG Flensburg-Handewitt profited from the defending champion’s slip-up.

While Berlin took the lead in the standings with a 37:29 (17:14) win at GWD Minden with a never endangered 37:29 (17:14) and now 23:5 points, Flensburg advanced to second place with a 38:23 (20:9) victory over Aufsteiger TV Hüttenberg and 21:5 points past the Löwen (20:4). However, Flensburg has played one, the lions two games less than the Berliners.

The first brother duel between European champion Kai Häfner from Hannover-Burgdorf and the seven years younger top talent Max Häfner (21) from the TVB Stuttgart won with 27:20 (16:11) and secured the fourth place in the standings with 19:7 points. Kai Häfner advanced to the top scorer of the game with five goals, his young brother scoring once in the net.

THW Kiel had no problems at all: The former championship runners-up, who had been in crisis for the last time, remained unbeaten at 29:19 (16:12) against the TBV Lemgo for the sixth time in a row.

The lions, who had been plagued by travel stress and the much-discussed two games within 25 hours in Leipzig and Barcelona, also set off furiously in the Rothenbach-Halle in Kassel and led 8:3 after 13 minutes. The closer the half came, the heavier the legs became. Melsungen had already overturned the game at the break (15:13).

Led by the powerful international player Julius Kühn (9 goals) and the outstanding keeper Nebojsa Simic, Melsungen extended the lead in the second round until 20:15. At 22:20 and 23:21 the lions came back to two goals, but Melsungen stayed cool and made the ninth victory of the season perfect.

“We weren’t smart enough, not smart enough in the head,”said Andy Schmid, the lion director at Sky:”We had a four-day break before the game. To say we had no more strength would be a cheap alibi.”