History repeating

There can be no doubt: Ciudad and Kiel are the strongest clubs of European handball. They will “repeat” the final of the last season in the EHF Champions League.

Ciudad Real have beaten Hamburg by 33-31 on Saturday evening and they will be going for their third European title now. Ciudad won both games of the semi-finals, nevertheless, the Germans proved to be very difficult opponents.

The Quijote Arena remains a fortress where no team can win despite a lot of difficulties of Ciudad in the first half of the game. Hamburg had the lead during the first 25 minutes and the guest defence did well to block all the tactical variations of the Dujshebaev team.

The guest goalkeeper, Bitter, was the biggest star in this period and only a better performance in the last minutes secured the draw for Ciudad Real at half-time.

The second half was very intensive. The score remained very close and neither of the teams was able to control the game. Kallman and Abalo were very effective in from fast breaks and Sterbik was also improving. The goalkeeper – in the decisive moments – was key player for his team making spectacular saves.

Hamburg tried to remain within reach, but Ciudad made no mistakes in the final minutes.

Coach Martin Schwalb tried hard to reinforce the defence of the Germans, but the Spanish side could create more opportunities. The Slovenian Uros Zorman scored the last two important goals for Ciudad and won a very equal game.

Kallman was top scorer for the hosts with eight goals and Bertrand Gille was the most prolific player on the German side with another eight goals. Also remarkable was the performance of Bitter in the first half and that of his counterpart Sterbik after the break.

Ciudad made it to the Final again. The first leg will be played in Kiel 23-24 May and the return match in Ciudad Real a week later.