Despite of losing the second leg of the final tie against Krim Ljubljana 20:21 at home, Viborg HK won the Women's Champions League Saturday evening. A 24:22 win for the Danes in the first leg in the Tivoli Hall of Ljubljana last Sunday meant that...

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Despite of losing the second leg of the final tie against Krim Ljubljana 20:21 at home, Viborg HK won the Women’s Champions League Saturday evening.

A 24:22 win for the Danes in the first leg in the Tivoli Hall of Ljubljana last Sunday meant that Viborg won the finals 44:43 on aggregate, and could celebrate their first Champions League championship ever - in their third final, after having lost the finals in 1997 as well as in 2001.

The match had been moved from Viborg’s usual home ground Viborg Stadionhal to NRGI Arena in Aarhus, which can take 2,000 more spectators than the hall in Viborg. And the 4,700 spectators, who filled the hall in Denmark’s second largest city, really gave the match a tremendous atmosphere.

Krim was leading from the very first to the very last minute of the match, but still it was the Slovenians, who had to lower their heads in disappointment after the final whistle.

Krim dominance from the start
Just like the first leg in Ljubljana, this match was dominated by the defences and the goalkeepers. Romanian national team keeper Luminita Dinu in the Krim goal did particularly well in her last game for the Slovenian champions - saving no less than 20 shots, including a penalty.

However, French national team keeper Valerie Nicolas at the other end of the court also contributed to limiting the number of goals in the match, making 13 saves.

Another similarity between the two matches was the fact that, just like in the first leg, Krim dominated from the start, and the visitors quickly took a 0:2 lead, which was soon extended to 1:4. After nine and a half minutes Viborg had only scored one goal - and that was on a penalty - when Rikke Skov scored the hosts’ first "real" goal of the night, reducing the Krim lead to 2:4.

Opposite to the first match, however, Krim went on having initiative, and had further three goal leads at 2:5 and 3:6. The Slovenian lead was even increased to 5:9, and a team time-out, requested by Viborg coach Tomas Ryde at that time, did not help a lot, as Krim got four goals ahead again at 6:10, before Viborg scored the last two goals of the first half, reducing the distance to 8:10 at half time.

Continuous Krim initiative
From the start of the second half Krim continued to have the initiative, creating new three goal leads at 8:11, 9:12, and 10:13 - and although Viborg managed to reduce the distance to 12:13, Krim was still able to keep the lead - even being four goals ahead again at 13:17. At that time Krim was really reaching out for the Champions League trophy, enthusiastically supported by their 400 fans in the hall in Aarhus.

As the second half progressed, Krim’s back-court players seemed to be losing their shooting power - but not their ability to find Russian World champions Liudmila Bodnieva on the circle again and again, and her goals gave the guests a further four goal lead at 15:19.

Strong Viborg finish
From then on, however, Krim seemed to be losing force, and a strong finish by Viborg reduced the visitors’ lead to 19:20 and 20:21. Even though Krim had the ball for the last 15 seconds, it was too late for them to secure the aggregate win, as even a 22:20 win for Krim would still have made Viborg Champions League winners on away goals. In stead Viborg keeper Valerie Nicolas finished the match with yet another save, and the Danes could start celebrating.

Like having climbed Mount Everest!
"I feel as if 15 kilos of stone have fallen from my heart!" said Viborg’s German national team player Grit Jurack, who did not have success with her shots until way into the second half, but who still managed to score three goals.

"We played terribly in the attack, but our defence was fantastic, and that made our win deserved. This is just like having climbed Mount Everest!" found the German right back.

"It is almost impossible to describe how I feel right now!" said Viborg’s Swedish coach Tomas Ryde, who ended his first season in the club with winning the Champions League - less than a fortnight after having won the Danish championship with the club.

"It was a very difficult match for our players, as a lot of emotional factors played a part, but we benefited from Krim getting tired towards the end" found Tomas Ryde.

Russian pivot Liudmila Bodnieva became top scorer, not only for her own team, but in the match, with 8 goals, while Heidi Astrup scored 6 times for Viborg, two of her goals being on penalties.


Text: Peter Bruun
Photos: Per Soerensen