03.04.2008, 11:14
Cadenas admires Kiel

Though the Barcelona coach has enormous respect for Kiel, the Catalonians want to reach the final. Their form is promising, 45 goals at the last test.

Cadenas admires Kiel

Barcelona coach Manuel Cadenas can only talk about their semi-final opponents, THW Kiel, with admiration. Cadenas knows that the German club is one the greatest in Europe and actually they have a very strong group of players, the best in the world. However, CL Final is the real objective of Barcelona for the current season.

Cadenas thinks that THW have a great history and a marvelous present.

“Kiel are the best team in the world this moment. However, we will play the second game at home, in Palau and it reinforces us. It was a priority for us to play the return match in Barcelona. I’m sure that we are able to defeat any club and Kiel too. We know that the German team has formed the best roster in the world of handball.”

The Spanish coach talks about the characteristics of THW Kiel:

“They have one or two world stars for every position. The French keeper, Thierry Omeyer, is a good example in the goal. Kiel plays very fast handball. They score lot of goals because they are running all the game. However, when they need to play in a slow rhythm, Stefan Lövgren is a very good player. It is probable that these will be two matches with lots of goals”.

Cadenas is only thinking about the victory in both games:

“We must look for a victory in Germany without thinking about the game in Barcelona. Our objective is to win in Kiel because playing on home court is not as much decisive as it was in the Main Round”.

The Barcelona coach also comments briefly the other semi-final duel:

“It is important to avoid playing national matches. It is better to face other foreign clubs”.

Warm-up with 45 goals

Barcelona demonstrated that they are in form. The Cadenas team have beaten Almeria, a modest Spanish side, by 29-45.

This was the last match of the Catalonians before meeting Kiel and this was a real tour de force for Barcelona. All the players of Barcelona could score, but Kasper Hvidt was also important in the goal.

Cadenas did not have difficulties this time, all the players were healthy. Barcelona started very well and their goalkeeper saved virtually every Almeria shot, while Victor Tomas scored easily from fast breaks. Nodesbo was the leader in attack, converting every ball that he received on the line.

All the players had time on court: the young players, Ugalde, Lardholm and Nenadic took control of the game in the last minutes giving time to rest for Iker Romero and Nagy.

TEXT: Fernando Urra Goñi