Löwen win in the last second

It’s rather rare that two teams celebrate after a match and both teams dance on the court with joy. In fact, this happened after the return game of the semi-final between Rhein Neckar Löwen and THW Kiel in Mannheim.

As Löwen winger Uwe Gensheimer scored as the final whistle came, the host won 31:30. This victory meant that Löwen are the second German in the entire season (including league and cup) to beat THW. This did not caue major disappointment for the guests as Kiel reached the CL Final for the third consecutive time with a 13 goal aggregate victory.

In the very beginning Löwen showed how eager they are to achieve a big sensation. Supported by 13,000 fans they were in the lead at 6:2. Kiel looked like a zebra hunted by a lion…

But as THW kept calm and waited for Löwen mistakes they scored five consecutive goals to make it 7:6. After that the match remained close until the end with slight advantages for THW.

Once again, goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer had a great day, but this was true about Slawomir Szmal on the other side as well. The first half was marked by two outstanding line players, Kliomets (Löwen) scored four times, Ahlm (Kiel) five.

As the Kiel offence made less mistakes than RNL, the guests were in the lead at 18:16 by the break.

Kiel only slowed down towards the end when Löwen equalised at 25:25 for the first time. The 8th goal of Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson made it 29:28 for RNL.

The very last minute was full of tension. Karol Bielecki missed a chance to decide the match by making a technical mistake at 30:29 for Löwen exactly 10 seconds before the end.

Kiel attacked and received a penalty shot Vid Kavticnik equalised five seconds before the end and Löwen coach Wolfgang Schwenke took his time out. Uwe Gensheimer received the ball in the last attack and scored. Though it took some discussion, it was clear that the goal was scored before the match was over.

31:30! The 13,000 fans stood on their seats and celebrated in a very fair manner. They gave a big applause for THW too. Farewell Löwen, good luck Kiel was the meaning of their support.

The top scorers of the match were Mariusz Jurasik (Löwen) with nine and Markus Ahlm (Kiel) with eight goals.