Löwen give away the victory

Like Kielce, like Chambery: Rhein Neckar Löwen again lost an important point on home soil: As four weeks ago against the Polish champion, the still unbeaten German team (now 6:2 points) wasn’t able to take the clear lead to the final whistle, for the French team the 31:31 (16:13) was the third point in this season. Hero for Chambery was Yannick Palma, who scored the equalizer five seconds before the end. Right before “Löwe” Bjarte Myrhol hit the post with the last attack of the Germans. Topscorer of the match was Bertrand Roine (Chambery) with eight goals, Uwe Gensheimer hit the net seven times for the host.

After an equal start, Löwen increased the gap to three goals at halftime (16:13) – and only six minutes after the break the match seemed to be decided, as the Löwen had scored five consecutive goals and were in lead 21:13. “After this eight goal distance we had an collective collapse”, “Löwen” coach Ola Lindgren said after the match. Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson added: “We switched off our heads.” As Chambery came closer goal by goal, Lindgren changed the goalkeeper from Fritz (14 saves before) to Szmal – but the match ran out of the Löwen’s hands. Even eight minutes before the end the distance was still four goals (29:25). 90 seconds before the final whistle it was 31:29, but then Gábor Császár and Yannick Palma equalized the score in this high tensioned match.