First the comeback, then a return to Cologne

When all his teammates jumped for joy, Patrick Wiencek made his way straight to the hospital.

In October, when his club THW Kiel just had beaten arch rival SG Flensburg-Handewitt in the VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase, the line player was out after only 15 minutes – torn ACT, with an expected down-time of nine months, so it seemed it was the end of the season for the powerful defensive ace.

Wiencek had to miss the EHF EURO, where his German teammates sensationally made it to the winner’s podium and he missed more than 30 THW Kiel matches. After Dominik Klein and before Rene Toft Hansen it was the second of three torn cruciate ligaments in the THW squad within one year.

But Duisburg-born Wiencek clutched his teeth, fought hard in his rehab – and was supposed to return on court beginning of May in the league match against Lübbecke.

But surprisingly Wiencek was told to be on court earlier – in the matches of the matches, the VELUX EHF Champions League quarter-finals against FC Barcelona. “It was planned in a different way, but I was ready for those clashes,” he says with pride.

More than 10,000 fans in the Sparkassen-Arena-Kiel were stunned when Wiencek appeared on the team list.

And not only there, but straight on the court, building the middle block with Croat Ilija Brozovic. Wiencek: “It was incredible to have a comeback like this.

And finally we all made a dream come true in those matches, the dream of Cologne became reality after all those injury problems we had to face throughout the …

continue reading in source www.eurohandball.com