Flensburg lose the plot at halftime

At the beginning it looked like another nice handball evening for Flensburg. The extra-size no. 8 jersey was pulled up to the ceiling as usual, the ceremonies went down well and the new Champions League anthem was played. The Euphoric opening was followed by sober reality.

Only four days after the successful game against THW Kiel, SG Flensburg-Handewitt start the Champions League with a 26:34 (14:13) defeat against BM Ciudad Real.

The Northern German side suffered their last defeat in the Campushalle on 1 April 2006. “We must forget the second half as quickly as possible,” says Flensburg’s coach, Kent-Harry Andersson.

“Never change a winning team.” The coach did not apply this principle this time and it worked at the beginning. Anders Eggert started on the left wing instead of Lars Christiansen and he converted all the 7m shots. The match winner of the derby, Dan Beutler was not in the starting seven; the goalkeeper was Dane Sijan surprisingly.

The Spanish world class team did not reckon with this goalkeeper and they missed shots from short range.

Ciudad Real replied with “royal elegance” and they rotated world class players in the backcourt position. “Chema” Rodriguez und Alberto Enterrios replaced Petar Metlicic, Uros Zorman and Siarhei Rutenka. “

The Flensburg players kept on the pressure, but time and time again they failed and it was all down to goalkeeper Árpád Sterbik.

“We missed too many opportunities to take a comfortable lead, while Árpád Sterbik showed what an extraordinary goalkeeper he is,” commented Kent-Harry Andersson.

At the start of the second half Flensburg failed completely. Nothing worked out any more, 3:13 was the score and the hosts had difficult moments. The goalkeeper change and other modifications served for nothing else but to get somewhat closer to Ciudad.

“I’m very satisfied,” said the visiting coach, Talant Dujshebaev. “We must not forget however, that Flensburg played without three key players, Lackovic, von Behren and Stryger.”

One more bad news for Flensburg: Einar Holmgeirsson got injured and had to be strechered off, though he did not event collide with an opponent. His left leg was bandaged and the diagnosis: tear of the left adductor.

“This is really bad for him,” said manager Fynn Holpert. “He showed today how important he is for the team.”