Icon: enlarge
As a sure seven-meter thrower, Niclas Ekberg was one of the Kielers' guarantors of success
Photo:
FRIEDEMANN VOGEL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
THW Kiel won the Champions League.
The German record champions won against FC Barcelona with 33:28 (19:16).
The best throwers in Cologne's Lanxess Arena were superstar Sander Sagosen with seven and right winger Niclas Ekberg with eight goals, Aleix Gómez scored ten times for Barcelona.
Thanks to the success, the team of coach Filip Jicha managed to win the fourth title in the club's history; Kiel had already secured the trophy in 2007, 2010 and 2012.
Already in the initial phase, Kiel presented itself against the favored Catalans completely at eye level.
Barcelona only took a brief lead once, after which THW had the game under control, but without going far from it.
Especially defensively, the Kielers hardly let the Spanish series champions come into their own, even two time penalties against Sagosen in the first ten minutes did not let the Kiel defense crumble.
The three-goal lead at break only rarely melted in the second half, the Kiel team continued to play consistently and with concentration.
When Gómez threw a seven-meter throw at the crossbar with a score of 29:26 three minutes before the end, the game was more or less decided: Barcelona had to risk, but still found no gaps.
The Kieler extended the lead and won the title with ease.
Paris is third
In the final four tournament, which had been postponed from spring to the end of the year due to the corona pandemic, the Kiel team won against the Hungarian top club Telekom Veszprém the day before after extra time 36:35 (29:29, 18:13) FC Barcelona had defeated Paris Saint-Germain 37:32 (18:14) in the semifinals.
In the »small final« the French secured third place with a 31:26 (14:11) victory.
Icon: The mirror
cev
