It is time for "El Clásico" of handball. Barcelona, 17th times Spanish Champions, and Kiel, 14th times German Champions, will challenge each other today, at 17:30. The semifinal of the last season will be repeated, this time in the group phase.
Hvidt, Losert, Barrufet : they are the stars in goal.
Lozano, Romero, Hansen, Boldsen, Nagy, Ben Amor : they are the stars on the back positions.
Garcia, Tomas, Rocas, Ugalde : they are the stars on wings.
Nöddesbo, Garrabaya, Jernemyr : they are the stars on the pivot position.
Impressive, isn´t it? All these players together collect about... 1200 caps for their countries. Barcelona is a legendary squad, one who never failed against THW on home soil: 5 games, 5 victories. Kiel´s coach Alfred Gislason is also one of the persons who never succeeded to win in "Palau Blaugrana". The former trainer of SC Magdeburg leaded his team in four games against the Catalonians and lost three times (25:38, 24:26, 23:27), two times in Barcelona. That´s why the question of the day comes automatically: Will be Kiel able to beat Barcelona in Spain for the first time in the history?
In any case, Nikola will be very glad to go back victorious to Germany, also because his family will follow him live, in the arena. His father, Branko, his mother, Lala, and his brother, Luka, went especially to Barcelona to see him playing and winning.
And as a good news never comes alone, the Zebras got one as a good preparation for the clash in the afternoon. For the first time in this season, they defend the first place in the Bundesliga ranking, because Lemgo, the former top table, lost home, 30:34, against Hamburg, in the derby of the 9th round.
NK22.COM
