In the rain of confetti and in front of fireworks, the handball players of THW Kiel kept raising the Supercup and jubilantly enjoying the prestigious victory in a duel with champion SC Magdeburg.
With the 36:33 (16:16) in front of 5900 spectators in Düsseldorf, the record champion and DHB cup winner secured the trophy for the twelfth time and made a clear declaration of war for the title fight shortly before the start of the Bundesliga season.
Nikola Bilyk with eight goals and Patrick Wiencek (7) were the winners' best shooters in a dramatic game. "We are a team. It's not about who scores the goals. We want to win titles together," said Austria's backcourt ace Bilyk on TV channel Sky, "I'm really looking forward to this league this year. It's going to be incredibly exciting and the anticipation is huge."
The THW got off to a better start
Magdeburg, where Omar Ingi Magnusson scored six times, left the floor with hanging heads. "I'm super disappointed because we invested a lot. We really wanted to win this game. It was anything but a preparatory game for us. We missed a few things today," said coach Bennet Wiegert.
THW, who still have to do without their injured top performers Hendrik Pekeler and Sander Sagosen for a few more months, got off to a better start and gained an earlier three-goal lead (5:2/7.). The champions from Magdeburg didn't get into their feared pace game at all and showed some weaknesses in the end. When the score was 3:8, Wiegert took a first break, during which he loudly shook up his team.
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.
The people of Kiel also had the better end for themselves
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.
