Martin Heuberger’s young German side continue to impress at Spain 2019 with an easier-than-expected win against Norway, 29:20, to sit top of preliminary group D with six points, thanks to three wins from their four games so far.

They currently sit above Denmark – the only team to beat them so far – on goal difference.

GROUP D
Norway vs Germany 20:29 (12:16)

When your goalkeeper ends with 25 saves and 56% save rate (from 45 shots), it is clear you know who to thank for the points, and the best player of the match performance from Till Klimpke was something to behold, but he was not the only star in a German side which were never behind in this match where they led by 11 at one point against a Norwegian side who finished ninth at last year’s Men’s 20 EHF EURO, six places behind the Germans, who grabbed bronze.

The gulf in class was evident early on with the German side featuring Sebastian Heymann and Klimpke, players who have had senior experience recently in the EHF EURO 2020 qualification phase, but it was Dimitri Ignatov who again helped his side settle, scoring four times in the first 10 minutes with his German side leading by the same difference (7:3).

Even though Ignatov ended with 10 goals, Klimpke was solid as a rock and like all good constructions, a strong base is needed and he provided that with 12 stops in the first half from all over the court all across his goal.

The 1,98m HSG Wetzlar player imposed himself tactically, physically and mentally on his own team and his opponents as he dominated proceedings.

Even with an expected second half fightback, further early saves saw Norway take a timeout with under six minutes gone, but Klimpke had already done enough at this point (21:13) to ensure his side, missing Eloy Morante Maldonado with an injured elbow, would end the day top of their group with the bench rotated and a rest day tomorrow.

“Overall, this was a very good performance of our team today which has shown who they are,” said Heuberger to the DHB website. “We were very aggressive in defence and provoked the Norwegian shooters to shooting from the second row and anything that did get through, Till held.

“On this basis, we also achieved a lot of easy counter-attack goals and had safety in our attack although we have to play a bit more patiently.”

Best Player of the Match: Till Klimpke (GER)