DAY REVIEW: Kiel and Szeged with last-second wins
For six teams the year 2023 in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League is over – and THW Kiel, OTP Bank - Pick Szeged and Montpellier HB finished it on a high note. Kiel profited from the buzzer-beater of Rune Dahmke against Kolstad, Szeged from the last missed shot of Kielce’s Alex Dujshebaev and Montpellier from a strong goalkeeper.
At half-time, I jokingly told Andreas Wolff that he could stop saving the penalties, but he didn't stop... It was a real team success for us; we achieved it together. We knew that we really needed these extra points to progress from the group. Against such an opponent, we could only achieve this with extra performance.
I had a good game, but Roli also delivered a sensational performance on the opposite side. The game was decided in the last minutes of the first half when the home team gained a significant advantage that lasted throughout, and we were just chasing the result from that point on.
That was a real Champions League match at the highest level. Two strong defences pushed the attack to the edge. There was a lot of fight in this game, a lot of adrenaline. I'm proud of my guys for staying calm.
There was a lot of adrenaline in the game, we also played a great defence. Some stupid mistakes in the last five or six minutes cost us a lot. I'm proud of my team's fight, unfortunately we're going home with zero points.
It’s very satisfying to win by 11 goals, and we applied well what we had prepared in training this week. We had identified some strong GOG shooters and our defensive options enabled us to nullify their effect. The team is growing in maturity and we showed consistency in both attack and defence throughout the game.
That was hard for us tonight and not what we wanted. We are under a lot of pressure right now and the result is the reflection of that. We had some good chances to score but their goalkeeper was very good. We are disappointed but we still have a lot of important games to come between now and Christmas.