Hamburg win Group E after tough match

In their first Champions League participation ever, HSV Hamburg are sure to win Group E. However, the current number one in the Bundesliga had to fight much harder than expected away against number ten in the Danish league, Viborg HK. The Danes were missing no less than six key players – Mikkel Aagaard, Morten Bjerre, Per Leegaard, Lukas Karlsson, Milan Grubanov and goalkeeper Thomas Forsberg. Nevertheless, the home team managed to put pressure on the favourites during the entire 60 minutes before HSV could finally secure their group win with a 30-28 victory.

Close to a surprise

Actually Viborg had a good chance to Viborg win, which would have been a sensational result. In fact, Viborg surprisingly won the first half.

From the start of the second half, HSV coach Martin Schwalb sent on Korean right back Kyung-Shin Yoon, left winger Torsten Jansen, and playmaker Gillame Gilles. None of them played before the break, but their presence helped HSV a lot. The German side managed to turn the Viborg lead and make it 26-22.

Once again, however, Viborg managed to crawl closer, but at the end HSV’s greater experience proved to be enough to secure the Germans a narrow, but deserved win. The team were loudly celebrated by the 200 HSV fans who had taken the five hour trip from North Germany to Viborg

Not underestimated

“I would not say that we underestimated Viborg. I simply admire their fighting spirit and their optimism. It was nice to be back and win here,” Hans Lindberg, HSV’s Danish right winger and former Viborg player, told Eurohandbll.com after the match.

“I told my players to go out and simply enjoy the moment. Even though we were underdogs – at least due to our many injuries – you should never feel sad when playing in the Champions League. This is a great experience in itself.

"I’m extremely proud of my players, but at the same time I’m a bit disappointed that we did not manage to get at least a draw,” Viborg coach, Søren Hildeband told Eurohandball.com

Kyung-Shin was HSV´s top scorer with 8 goals – all of them in the second half –, while Hungarian backcourt player, Gábor Császár scored 7 for Viborg in front of 1655 enthusiastic spectators.