“It’s only halftime”

As expected, it was a difficult game for Ciudad Real in Hamburg. Nevertheless, the Spanish side won 30:29 in a clash of two world class teams.

“It’s halftime now of this semi-final. We will start with a little advantage on Saturday at home,” Ciudad coach Talant Dujshebaev said after the game.

Even if his team perform convincingly at home, everything is still open:

“Hamburg are one the best teams in the world, and for us it will be very tough to beat them again – even on home court. But I believe in our team and with the help of our fans we’ll reach the finals again.”

Right back Olafur Stefansson agrees:

“There’s no big difference between our team and Hamburg. It’s relatively positive that we won the away match, but this means nothing if we lose at home. Our defence worked well today and we will need it again on Saturday. We were away with five goals, but won the match by only one goal. I’m quite satisfied, but we still have to be aware.”

Ales Pajovic: “The victory in Hamburg is a good success, but we started very badly. As we found our rhythm, we improved and turned the match. With our fighting spirit we have beaten the hosts. This means that we have a good basis for the second leg.”

As he analysed the game, Talant Dujshebaev spoke about a “high number of technical mistakes before the game. After the break four consecutive counter attacks changed the game. But Hamburg never surrendered.”

“Nothing is impossible”

Hamburg lost, but the last 15 minutes may give hope to the Germans.

“In the beginning we played amazingly, but we knew that it would be hard to play on this level for a whole game,” HSV coach Martin Schwalb said. “After the break we had big problems, especially with Olafur Stefansson, but we knew how tough it would be to play against Ciudad Real.”

The “fighting spirit and the will” make Schwalb optimistic before the second leg in Spain:

“We never surrendered and we fought for every ball until the end. At 9 PM on Saturday we will know what the value of this result was. But Ciudad Real are the favourites now.”

Goalkeeper Johannes Bitter – saved 15 shots in the first half including penalties – is still optimistic:

“We can win in Ciudad Real and nothing is decided so far. We started on high speed, but we couldn’t keep this level unfortunately.”

The “archetypal fighter” of Hamburg was line player Bertrand Gille. He played against Ciudad Real with a broken rib – just the way he did it a year ago…

“When you’re on court, you don’t feel any pain,” the Frenchman said about his injury. For Gille it was the performance of Árpád Sterbik to decide the game: “In the decisive stage he saved everything. But our goalkeepers did a great job too.”

Gille still believes in the Final:

“The first half of the semi-final was played, and we still have a chance even if winning in Spain would be very difficult. But nothing is impossible.”

For Dierk Schmäschke, member of the HSV club board, Kiel are the example to follwo:

“THW won in Ciudad Real last season and we hope to do the same. We had a very weak start after the break, but even as it looked disastrous we never gave it up. Ciudad are world class team, but with the support of 200 spectators we hope to win in Spain.”