Hamburg one step away from the semi-final

Was it the last home game of SG Flensburg-Handewitt in the Champions League for a while? The team from Schleswig-Holstein lost to HSV Hamburg in front of 5,878 fans by 25:28 (12:14) and it could be difficult to reach the semi-final now.

“There are 60 minutes to play,” said Flensburg goalkeeper Dan Beutler. “We will fight, even if we are missing some of the players.” The return game will be played on 3 April.

The spectators could feel it right from the beginning that Hamburg has a huge advantage when we compare the two squads. Marcin Lijewski was back in his old form after an injury break. His brother, Krzysztof, was back after 15 minutes. HSV played with their best line-up, while Flensburg had only three players in their second string: Lasse Boesen, Thomas Mogensen and Oscar Carlén.

“We played with our heart,” praised his team the Flensburg coach Per Carlén. “Hamburg have more resources in their team.“

It was difficult fort he hosts to score and they were always in disadvantage. At 6:11 (20th minute) HSV had a five-goal lead for the first time. “We had many difficulties to overcome the 6:0 defence,” said Per Carlén.

The two goals at halftime was quite acceptable for Flensburg. They were back in the game and the guests got more and more nervous.

HSV right winger, Hans Lindberg, missed two 7-meter shots and the “Hölle Nord” exploded as Torge Johannsen’s goal gave the lead to Flensburg for the first time 17:16 (41st min). Thomas Mogensen made it 18:17 a few minutes later.

The HSV players speeded up. Only Oscar Carlén could hit the target in this period from the Flensburg side.

“We only have a three-goal lead,” said HSV coach Martin Schwalb. “You can lose it quickly in handball. I was not satisfied with our attacking play this time. There was little activity.“

HSV back player, Arne Niemeyer, added: “We took benefit of the individual class of some of our players. The game was decided by the attacking play.”