First Champions League Final for Kiel since 2000!

Way up in the north of Germany, spirits were on a high on Friday night, with words from the German song “Wenn nicht jetzt, wann dann?” meaning “If not now, then when?” filling the evening air. Over 10 000 Kiel fans filled the Ostseehalle in Kiel to support their team in what turned out to be a thrilling match which could of gone either way. At one point in the match Kiel were leading by 6 goals, which turned out to be just 3 goals at the end but it was enough to get Kiel into the final for the first time since 2000! The 37:34 win (28:30 in the 1st leg) was not down to just one player!

No player can be singled out as being the match winner on the THW team. The goalkeeper duo Omeyer and Andersen set each other off perfectly, Stefan Lövgren scored a total of eight times, showing that he is just can’t be stopped. Wing player Dominik Klein and Vid Kavticnik played excellently as did Nikola Karabatic in the first half, who scored seven of his 10 goals in the first 30 minutes. San Antonio couldn’t rely on their genius playing moves or the 10 goals from Ivano Balic or the 12 goals from Carlos Ruesga.

It wasn’t just Dominik Klein who called for a lot of noise in the Ostseehalle. With a standing ovation and black and white paper everywhere, the fans were behind their team all the way. From the very beginning the THW players went into the match full steam ahead, but San Antonio remained cool and came into the game more and more. They had a great shooter in the form of Ruesga, who new exactly how to make the most of the holes in the Newly formed 6-0 Kiel defence. Ivano Balic was having a good day, and Portland managed to keep the edge on the match, making it look like it was going to be their day.

But the Zebras never gave up and Karabatic kept them in the match, with shots of over 110 km/h – Kiel managed to equalise. San Antonio, with Balic’s spectacular goals slipped ahead. Xepkin, who had only trained three times with the team didn’t manage to get into the match. Noka reacted accordingly by bringing on Mattias Andersson and sent Dominik Klein into position to block Balic and Ruesga on the line.

It was after a fast break from Dominik Klein and a perfect throw from Andersson that Kiel managed to equalise, making it 15.15. Two more shots in the back of Kasper Hvidt’s net made the crowd go crazy. At half-time the score was 19:20.

The break didn’t seem to do Kiel much good, the Spanish got back into the game. For 5 minutes the Zebra didn’t really achieve much and Portland said thank you in the form with 3 Ruesga goals, which took the guests back into the lead. The match could have gone either way at this point. It wasn’t until the 40th minute that the game heated up. Perez got a two minute suspension, Omeyer came back on to replace Andersson. Lövgren took control of the match and the dynamic duo of Klein/Kavticnik took off on their journey and the Zebras were tireless.

It was Karabtic who took the Zebras up to 29:25 before he was swiftly deposited on the bench by the French refs. Just as the Kiel team were beginning to think the impossible was possible, the doubts were back again. But Omeyer managed to save a shot by Andorinhos . Everything else was down to the boss, Lövgren took control once again and managed to successfully turn a fast break into a goal.

San Antonio’s coach had had enough and called a time-out for his stars, it didn’t really work though because Karabatic hammered the back of the net and Klein did his bit to take the match to 34:28.

Two minutes before the end of the match, Lövgren took the score up to 37:31 and the celebrations began. But it was all a bit early. San Antonio showed that they can react quickly too – Balic should sort everything out for the guests, which he did indeed do. Two quick goals within 40 seconds put the guests back on the road to the final. It was Davor Dominikovic who took Portland up to 34:37 30 seconds before the end of the match. Just one goal separated Portland from the final. Seven seconds were left to be played, for the Zebras it seemed to be the longest 7 seconds of their life – but the rest is history and merely celebrations.

The fans went crazy, singing the song of the World Championship, which seems likely to become to become Kiel’s Champions League song. Hope are flying high in Kiel. They will meet Flensburg in the final.

Translation: EHF