Flensburg lost Optimism for ten minutes

SG Flensburg could stay in the game against the Spanish champions, BM Ciudad Real, only for one halftime. As it happened at the first match of the teams, the Bundesliga team lost after the break and the game ended 29:24 (16:15) for Ciudad.

The manager of Flensburg, Fynn Holpert, knew already minutes before the end what consequences this result will have fort he last group match in Lubin: “We must win in order to reach the Main Round.”

The club of “La Mancha” reached this objective already before the game. Even the group victory could only be doubted on a theoretical level, so it was not a miracle that many seats remained empty in the Quijote-Arena.

The fans have seen a Flensburg with Anders Eggert, Dane Sijan and Einar Holmgeirsson in their starting line-up – and they also had surprising tactics. Flensburg took advantage of the 5:1 defence of Ciudad Real and took a 5:8 (13th minute) lead, though they already missed two fast break opportunities.

The Flensburg fans could still hope before halftime in a surprise. However, the guests left their optimism in the locker room. They lost balls and the Spanish led quick counter attacks. The new goalkeeper, Árpád Sterbik was also unbeatable and Ciudad Real took a 25:17 lead all of a sudden by the 41st minute. The loudspeaker celebrated all Spanish goals with incredible intonation.

In the last minutes, the 6:0 defence of the German side and goalkeeper Dan Beutler allowed only two goals.

“The performance of the team was very good for 50 minutes,” said Fynn Holpert, “but unfortunately a game is played 60 minutes”.