Kiel conquer Dinamo’s fortress in style
What a demonstration of power and will: THW Kiel made more than one step towards the quarter-finals of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, winning the first leg at Dinamo Bucuresti by a 13-goal margin. While the hosts caused too many mistakes to have a chance, THW played like Swiss clockwork, using the whole squad for an impressive victory.
PLAY-OFFS, FIRST LEG
C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) vs THW Kiel (GER) 28:41 (11:19)
- boosted by outstanding support from the stands, Dinamo were on an equal level in the first 11 minutes before Kiel took full control and pulled ahead with a 7:1 run for a 12:6 lead
- with Ali Zein and Ante Kuduz improving in attack, Bucuresti managed to get closer to the Zebras, but as the hosts caused a huge number of mistakes in attack, they were outdistanced by eight goals at the break
- Kiel’s left wing Rune Dahmke imprinted the first 20 minutes with four goals, then coach Filip Jicha started an early rotation; 11 Kiel players were already on the scoreboard at the break
- Sander Sagosen, Eric Johansson and Miha Zarabec each scored six goals for the victors, the same number as Stanislav Kasparek and Kuduz for the hosts
- the winners of this pairing face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals, and it looks like Kiel and PSG will lock horns for a ticket to Cologne for a third consecutive time
Dinamo shocked but celebrated
It was a night to forget for Dinamo Bucuresti, which will go down in the history books of the club as biggest home loss of the last years. Dinamo’s biggest defeat since returning to the international stage in 2015 was the 32:47 loss at Veszprém in the 2021/22 group phase, matched by a 22:39 defeat at SC Magdeburg in the 2015/16 season of the EHF Cup. Their biggest ever defeat was a 17:40 loss at Ciudad Real in 2005.
But despite the 13-goal margin, the Dinamo fans showed great character, celebrating their team long after after the final whistle.
It's important to understand that we need to improve for next season. We need to do more things to improve, but of course, in my opinion today we must have showed some better things. We made some mistakes; in the first half we lost a lot of balls and in this moment they won against us.
It has been incredible to play here, first of all the atmosphere was amazing, the fans were singing for 60 minutes. It is really fun to play here. It's been really good to see that we showed what we are capable of over a period of 60 minutes. It was a little difficult for us, so I am very happy with everyone, how we put the energy in, how we were focused.
