Ciudad kept the faith in the victory

The miraculous victory of Ciudad Real closed the 2008/09 season of the EHF Champions League with the Spanish team lifting the coveted trophy. The coach Talant Dujshebaev makes no secret of his happiness:

“The mentality of the team secured the victory for us. The players believed in themselves and in their chance. In the first 45 minutes we missed 16 one on one chances against the goalkeeper, but at the end we gave all we had. “

Dujshebaev knows that his team defeated a great opponent led by a coach he respects a lot:

“THW Kiel were dominating long periods of the game. It was an epic and heroic victory. It makes it even more valuable that the coach of the opponent was Alfred Gislasson, one of the most respectable people in handball for me”.

The coach was also grateful for the home crowd, a full house with almost 6,000 fans, who supported the team and created an incredible atmosphere, “they were very important for us,” he simply said.

Emotional farewell

The Champions League Final was a farewell for several players in the two teams. Lövgren played his last game ever as he will retire from handball at the end of the season. While he was not able to say goodbye with a trophy in his hand, Olafur Stefansson did it. The Icelandic will move to Germany, but closed a highly successful six-year period in Ciudad Real.

“This is a dream come true, impossible to put into words what I’m feeling,” he began a rather long monologue at the closing press conference which ended with an unusual applause from the journalists. Stefansson, who has always been known as a highly fair handballer, did not forget to mention that they defeated a superb THW where Lövgren would also have deserved a trophy. "I'm especially sorry for him," he added.

The other Ciudad players leaving the club, Zorman and Pajovic, were in apparently overjoyed by the success.

Uros Zorman commented with a Slovenian flag on his shoulders:

“We expected a difficult game like this against one of the best teams in the world. I believe that the goalkeepers decided it because Sterbik saved many balls in the last 20 minutes and our defence was very good,” he said