Viborg HK find themselves in an excellent position after having won the first leg of the Women's Champions League final 24:22 away against Krim Ljubljana - only one week after having won the Danish championship. The result gives the Danes a big...

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Viborg HK find themselves in an excellent position after having won the first leg of the Women’s Champions League final 24:22 away against Krim Ljubljana - only one week after having won the Danish championship. The result gives the Danes a big chance to win their first Champions League title ever - in their third attempt.

Krim coach Tone Tiselj had decided to take pivot Deja Doler out of the team due to lack of form; that decision was close to becoming fatal for the Slovenian team, as Russian national team pivot Ludmilla Bodnieva had to leave the court after having hurt her head in a fall in the first half. This meant that Katja Kurent had to step in as line-player for a while, but fortunately for Krim, Bodnieva soon came back into the game.

Viborg was also a pivot short, as Dutch national team player Olga Assink had got renewed problems with the knee that bothered her earlier this season. This became no big handicap for the Danish champions, however, as Charlotte Højfeldt took over brilliantly in the defence, while Lene Lund Nielsen did fine in the attack during the entire 60 minutes.

Nervous beginning
The start was pretty nervous from both sides, and the match took some time to find its rhythm. The visitors appeared more nervous than the hosts, and as the Viborg players kept seeing their shots saved by Luminita Dinu in the Krim goal, or hit the goalposts and the crossbar time after time, Krim managed to take a lead of no less than 5:1. At that point probably nobody among the nearly 5,000 spectators in the Tivoli Hall expected the match to be as exciting, as it turned out to be.

At this stage, Viborg’s French national team keeper Valerie Nicolas also started making saves, and that seemed to take some of the nervousness away from her teammates.

Furthermore, Viborg coach Tomas Ryde proved to have a tactical ace up his sleeve: Every time Viborg was hit by a two-minute suspension he took the goalkeeper out, and sent on an extra field player in a goalkeeper’s shirt in order to equalise the number of players. This did not only give Viborg an extra hand in the attack during the suspensions - it also contributed to considerable confusion amongst the Krim players.

Viborg therefore slowly fought their way back into the game, and at 7:7 the Danes managed to establish contact for the first time. Krim got two up again at 9:7, but Viborg equalised in a hurry, and for the rest of the first half the score changed between a stand-off and a one goal lead for Krim, until the half time result 12:11 for the home team.

Viborg initiative
The close race went on from the start of the second half, but it became more and more obvious, that Viborg had the initiative now. At 13:14 six minutes after the break, the Danes had their first lead in the match, and this lead was even extended to two goals and 13:15 and 14:16.

The home crowd did their best to support their team, and the 300 Viborg fans were almost not heard - and the support paid off, for a while, at least. Krim came back again to lead 17:16, 18:17, 19:18, and 20:19 - but that was going to be the home team’s last lead in the match. Viborg got ahead 20:21 and again with two goals at 21:23, before the match ended in a surprising 24:22 for the guests.

Cautious coach
Despite of the away win - which inevitably makes Viborg favourites before the second leg at home - Viborg’s Swedish coach Tomas Ryde was a careful and cautious man when commenting on the result after the match.

"There is a second half waiting for us on Saturday. The feeling we take with us from this match is what matters. We have lost to Krim twice this season, but now we have beaten them, and we have played excellent at home for a long time, too - that is what we can take with us!" said Tomas Ryde.

"It will still be difficult. We won down here, but we know that Krim will come with all they have on Saturday - and they can only play better, than they did today!" Viborg’s left winger and Danish national team player Henriette Mikkelsen commented after the match. Mikkelsen was her team’s top-scorer with 7 goals, 4 of which being on penalty shots. Natalja Derepasko scored 6 for Krim, 5 on penalties.

The second leg will be played Saturday evening in NRGI Arena in Århus, which can take around 4,700 spectators - about 2,000 more than Viborg’s usual home ground, Viborg Stadionhal.


Text: Peter Bruun