12.10.2007, 04:41
Debutants shock the CL finalists

The first surprise of Round 3: Lubin win in Flensburg 32:33!

Debutants shock the CL finalists

The cards are shuffled again in Group G of the Champions League. SG Flensburg-Handewitt lost against a debuting side in the CL, Zaglabie Lubin by 32:33 (15:14).

“We must be ashamed,” said the very disappointed Kent-Harry Andersson. “There was no player who performed at an acceptable level.” Marcin Lijewski, who wanted to show his best against the Polish team, was the only defeated Polish at the end: “We underestimated our opponents and we had to pay for it.”

Jan Holpert with an unusual no 16 jersey, Blazenko Lackovic for the first time playing this season – this Thursday evening should have been marked by the “comebacks”. However, it was all about something else: tension and two surprising performances from the teams in front of the 6,000 supporters.

Flensburg’s coach, Andersson, can have the certainty at least that his video analysis brought the right conclusions: playmaker, Bartolomiej Jaszka, and left back, Michal Kubisztal, were the “brain” of Lubin as expected.

This duo was not the only responsible for the strong Polish performance. There were many failures in the counterattacks on the Flensburg side and the goalkeeper, Michal Swirkula also gave them a chance for the victory.

“We were exhausted after 25 minutes in Spain,” said Michal Swirkula. “This time we wanted to keep the pace for 60 minutes and to avoid losing by 25:40.”

The Polish team were escorted by about 30 supporters who were already enthused by halftime. The Hölle Nord was silenced at 19:23 for the first time. The 6:0 defence of the hosts without the ill Johnny Jensen was not functioning. Kent-Harry Andersson opted for an open defence in the endgame, but it came too late.

Zaglebie Lubin could celebrate their first ever victory in the Champions League. “We won the game,” said a hoarse guest coach, Jercy Szafraniec, “and I lost my voice…”

TEXT: Jan Kirschner