Kiel. They were in a good mood when they entered the Kieler Sparkbaden-Arena. The joy of Melsunger handball players at a big cup night, however, gave way to pure horror after only 30 seconds.
Updated at 21.40 – Domagoj Pavlovic's serious injury overshadowed the quarter-finals of the MT. At 19:31 (8:19) of the defeat against the THW, northern Hesse missed the entry into the Final Four.
The game did not last even a minute – it was already interrupted. After 31 seconds, Domagoj Pavlovic of Melsungen was injured in a normal duel with his Croatian compatriot Domagoj Duvnjak. In the movement from left to right, Pavlovic collided with his opponent, unfortunately landed and collapsed immediately to the ground; Duvnjak turned away in horror, he seemed to suspect the harshness with which his opponent had been caught. Even Kiel's superstar had immediately recognized the seriousness because he had summoned all available doctors. The paramedics and the doctor of the Kiel team. Detlev Brandecker has arrived.
Pavlovic had to be treated in the hall for almost 20 minutes. Pavlovic's right leg had to be hitched and its circulation stabilized. When Pavlovic was finally released, the 10,000 spectators at Kiel Sparkbaden-Arena, who were completely silent during the treatment, applauded encouragingly. TM Board member Axel Geerken accompanied the 25-year-old game maker to a clinic in Kiel. The first supposition of Dr. Brandecker, that the Melsunger has broken the fibula, has since been confirmed. Pavlovic will be operated on Wednesday morning in Kiel and will be, according to the doctor of the Melsunger team. Gerd Rauch will fail for about three months.
To the applause of Kiel's supporters, Domagoj Pavlovic must be out of the room.
After five minutes of warm-up, the cut was continued. Naturally, the guests could not shake that shock so easily. As the game progressed, the stranger made several technical mistakes. But who should be surprised if after 31 seconds nothing was as expected?
In the seventh minute, it was already 6:02 for the local team. Coach Heiko Grimm ordered captain Lemke instead of Pavlovic to be placed at the back left. A little later, Philipp Müller was allowed to try his luck. But the backspace seemed anything but free. This was a lot reminiscent of the September match, when the MT fell into the league match in the 20:37 arena – but this time, any criticism was inappropriate. Some hits have marked Tobias Reichmann.
The THW solved the task in the manner of a clbad team. Goalkeeper Niklas Landin resisted several balls and during the attack, the hosts put a lot of pressure. Niclas Ekberg and Lukas Nilsson met almost as they wished. The keeper of the MT, Nebojsa Simic, cleared the chest early in the morning. Johan Sjöstrand came to pick him up. But even the Swede found his pace difficult. Shortly before the break, the Nordhessen were already late with 8:18. The game was decided for a long time – if she did not feel it after 31 seconds. The MT Melsungen had proposed on Facebook only in the first half a live stream of the room.
Kiel's coach, Alfred Gislason, could afford the luxury of changing a lot. This is how Marko Vujin and Miha Zarabec understood it. After the change, the German goalkeeper Andreas Wolff came into the goal. And also, many new faces have appeared: the Dahmkes, Reinkinds and Bilyks.
In the 35th minute, the audience sang in front of booth 24: 9: "From the Baltic Sea to the Isar – again and again THW". The Melsungen were clearly trying to resist. Simon Birkefeldt pitched 12:25 (39), Felix Danner the 13:27 (42) and Lemke defeated Wolff at 14:27 (43). The meeting, however, had only one character of training game.
Heiko Grimm now has the difficult task of setting up his team for the championship game on Thursday at 19:00 at TVB Stuttgart. Besides the missing of Julius Kühn, Michael Müller and Timm Schneider, another player misses the game: Domagoj Pavlovic.
Even before the match, it was clear that the evening would be difficult: no opponent can apparently stop THW Kiel for the moment. The possible reasons for the series of victories preceding the match of the MT: 14 games had betrayed the captain of Kiel, Patrick Wiencek, during an interview.
