Flensburg Want the Semi-finals

The German Bundesliga are dreaming of three semi-finalists. Many say that after the incredible 31-21 victory against FC Barcelona SG, Flensburg-Handewitt can lay back and the second leg on Saturday (16.30 hrs) in the Palau Blaugrana will be pure “formality”.

Flensburg coach, Kent-Harry Andersson does not want to hear about it: “We have a most difficult task,“ says the Swede. “We must play away against a superb team.”

Flensburg are cautious because of a defeat as well. They suffered a clear defeat against VfL Gummersbach on Wednesday (26:33) and they had to give up the first place of the Bundesliga. The North-German team did not fight during this match.

What’s more, Blazenko Lackovic and Joachim Boldsen did not play too much. “The batteries of Joachim Boldsen were low after the fantastic game against Barcelona,“ said Thorsten Storm, team manager. “We could not make the substitutions against a team such as Gummersbach.“

There is no time to be disappointed about the match: “We must forget this game quickly,” said team captain Sören Stryger. “We must concentrate on Barcelona now.”

 After the Bundesliga game in Köln – watched by a crowd of 15,147 – the Flensburg players stay in Western Germany, Leverkusen, and fly to Spain on Thursday night.

The team will have two days to prepare fort he great encounter in Barcelona. “We all want to reach the Champions League semi-final,“ says Thorsten Storm. 300 fans will help the team to achieve this. They will travel by air and on land from Flensburg to Catalonia.