CL finals: "a wish come true"

The titleholders are in the finals again. The club manager of THW Kiel is happy that his desire to play against Ciudad Real has been satisfied. In an exclusive interview with Eurohandball.com, Uwe Schwenker talks about the chances of Kiel and also about the matches between the German and the Spanish champions.

Eurohandball.com: What do you think about the chances against Ciudad Real?

Schwenker: 50:50. Maybe it’s some advantage for us that the second leg will be played at home, but if we want to win we have to create a good basis in Ciudad Real.

Eurohandball.com: What would be a “good basis” for you?

Schwenker: It’s hard to tell it in number of goals. Sometimes a defeat by two or three goals is okay, sometimes it looks quite different. For me it will be important that our teams return to their best possible performance. In the last matches we did not play concentrated; we have to improve a lot compared to our last matches.

Eurohandball.com: What does the Champions league mean to you respect to the Bundesliga?

Schwenker: It is very important. But you can’t compare the two as they are completely different. In the league you have to work hard for a whole season to win the title. In the Champions League sometimes luck and daily form decide the matches. But for us it’s a great confirmation of our power and performance that we reached the finals of the Champions League once again.

Eurohandball.com: Did you expect reaching the final again?

Schwenker: Of course you have some objectives for the season and one of them was to reach it again. But this is not possible to plan it, because as I said there are factors such as luck, daily form and also the draws that you can’t influence. We worked hard to reach the final again and we made it.

Eurohandball.com: Your team never played against Ciudad Real in the Champions League. Did you want to meet them in the finals?

Schwenker: Yes. It wasn’t only my wish, but the wish of many others. Ciudad are the number one team of handball from a financial and sports point of view. But we also improved and it will be attractive to play against Ciudad Real.

Eurohandball.com: How many titles will Kiel win this season?

Schwenker: This is normally not my business, but I think that if we give everything, we have the chances to still win some more.

Eurohandball.com: Sparkassen-Arena with a capacity of 10.250 spectators was sold out for every Champions League match. Did the CL prove to be profitable for your club?

Schwenker: Yes, it was profitable. Our special campaign that you had to buy tickets for the group phase to get for the main round and for the final stages was a total success.