14.03.2008, 09:21
Kiel say goodbye to Leon with a “La Ola”

The title holders reach the semi-finals with a convincing performance and a 32:26 victory.

Kiel say goodbye to Leon with a “La Ola”

THW Kiel confirmed that they are working seriously on the project called “Title Defence”. The 32:26 (18:14) success against Ademar Leon and reaching the semi-final of the Champions League was not endangered for a long time.

The THW coach, Noka Serdarusic, was only unsatisfied with missing some of the chances. “We created so many clear chances,” he said, “but the Leon goalkeeper was often in the way.” The guests came back to 8:9 (21st minute), but they had no chance on the long run.

The right back position proved to be a problem for Ademar. The experienced Matteo Garralda was missing (muscle injury) and Balázs Laluska, who was supposed to replace him, had to leave the court after only a couple of minutes with a suspected concussion.

“We could not cope with that,” summarised Leon’s coach, Jordi Ribera. “We had to make too many changes from attack to defence and Kiel made use of this advantage.”

The right winger, Ricardo Martins and the nimble Martin Stranovsky were trying to fill the vacuum. In the second half Jordi Ribera tried to send on two line players, but it did not help at all. In the 40th minute it was already 23:16 for THW. If the Leon goalkeeper, Danijel Saric, would not have saved so well, it could have been disastrous for the guests.

Already ten minutes before the end, the 10.000 fans were celebrating the victory. And as Jordi Ribera took a time-out with five minutes to go, they said goodbye to the guests in “Spanish language”: the “La Ola” waved around the Sparkassen-Arena.

“The atmosphere was fantastic today,” said Nikola Karabatic. “One needs to have such support to win the Champions League.”

TEXT: Jan Kirschner