In the rain of confetti and in front of fireworks, the handball players of THW Kiel repeatedly raised the Supercup and jubilantly enjoyed the prestigious victory in a duel with champion SC Magdeburg. With the twelfth triumph in the Supercup, THW Kiel has won the first title of the season and sent a clear declaration of war in the direction of Magdeburg. The cup winner prevailed on Wednesday evening in a dramatic handball duel against the German champions with 36:33 (16:16).
Nikola Bilyk with eight goals and Patrick Wiencek (7) were the winner’s best throwers. “We are a team. It’s not about who scores the goals. We want to win titles together,” said Austria’s backcourt player Bilyk on the TV channel “Sky”, “I’m really looking forward to this league this year. It will be incredibly exciting and the anticipation is huge.”
Pekeler and Sagosen still injured
Magdeburg, where Omar Ingi Magnusson scored six times, left the floor with hanging heads. “I am super disappointed because we have invested a lot. We really wanted to win this game. It was anything but a preparatory game for us. But we missed a few things today,” said coach Bennet Wiegert.
THW, who still have to do without their injured players Hendrik Pekeler and Sander Sagosen for a few more months, got off to a better start and gained an earlier lead of three goals (5:2/7.). The champions from Magdeburg initially couldn’t get into their feared game of speed and showed some weaknesses in the end. When the score was 3:8, coach Bennet Wiegert took a first break, during which he loudly shook up his team.
Magdeburg with difficulties
The club world champion was able to reduce the gap a little afterwards, but the connection did not succeed at first. This was mainly due to THW goalkeeper Niklas Landin, who was the usual strong support of his team and disenchanted the Magdeburg team with numerous saves.
In addition, the Kiel defense had the Icelandic backcourt duo Gisli Kristjansson and Magnusson well under control. Both scored just five goals together in the first half. Nevertheless, the SCM came into play better towards the end of the first half and equalized three minutes before the break at 14:14. Shortly thereafter, the first lead even succeeded, but it didn’t last.
After the change it was tight. Both teams fought doggedly for every ball and every goal. Sometimes it was extremely hectic on and off the floor. In the middle of the second half the pendulum seemed to swing in favor of Kiel, who were able to open up a three-goal lead again ten minutes before the end.
But Magdeburg didn’t give up and fought back. In the gripping final phase, however, the cup winner had the better end for himself and exuberantly celebrated the prestige victory.
