Lackovic: “You can say that we were lucky…"

It was a memorable quarterfinal between HSV Hamburg and SG Flensburg-Handewitt. At the end only one goal was the difference in favour of the Hamburg handballers.

The HSV players celebrated after the final whistle, while the opponents from the Danish border town remained with a feeling of bitter disappointment on the court. Though the visitors were praised at the end of the game, they could not earn a place in the semi-finals.

“Flensburg played with incredible concentration right from the beginning,” admitted HSV’s left back, Blazenko Lackovic. “You can say that we have some more luck.”

“This was a fight until first blood”, said the Flensburg coach, Per Carlén. The team played in a line-up never seen before, but balanced it out with full concentration and determination.

On top of all the problems, 10 minutes from the end one of the backcourt players, Lasse Boesen had to leave the court injured. Only the inexperienced Sebastian Schneider was on the bench, so Per Carlén tried to solve the situation with two line players. He told Boesen: “You cannot give up now. We are just seven minutes away from the semi-finals.” And the Danish player limped back on court…

In the last seven seconds of the game, Flensburg had two players more on court. “We left Lars Christiansen, the left winger alone, because he was the furthest away from the ball,” explained Martin Schwalb, the HSV coach. “We speculated that he would not receive the ball.”

HSV were lucky. Oscar Calén, who performed so well up to that point, missed a pass. The “golden goal” was not scored. The hosts could celebrate a success. “This was the most beautiful defeat of the season,” said Hans Lindberg.

“From tomorrow on, it will only matter that we could go on,” added Torsten Jansen.