“We know our strength – especially at home”

“For me, the Rhein Neckar Löwen are a bit of the surprise team this season, in a positive sense. They have undergone a major upheaval and it is not a matter of course that everything works so well right away. They really shouldn’t be underestimated,” says Lukas Mertens before the match in the Daikin Handball Bundesliga against Mannheim on Sunday (6 p.m.).

The team from Baden-Württemberg has made a lot of personnel changes this season and not only to compensate for the departure of eleven players – including the German international Juri Knorr – but also to integrate a new coach in Maik Machulla. With a win at MT Melsungen and a draw at THW Kiel, the current seventh-placed team in the league underlined its ambitions to settle back in the upper quarter of the table after the disappointing previous season.

Unlike SCM, the Lions were not in action at the DHB Cup during the week. The Mannheim team was eliminated in the second round by SG Flensburg-Handewitt and was therefore able to use the entire week to prepare for the match on Sunday.

But that should not be decisive: “We know about our strength – especially at home. That’s why I’m looking forward to finally playing in the GETEC Arena again after so many away games,” said Mertens. “Our fans have had to follow us a lot in the last few weeks, now it’s nice for all of us to have a home game again. I hope that the hall will support us 100 percent again. We’ll definitely give it our all.”

By the way: The 11th matchday is under the motto of the “Move Your Sport” initiative, through which Dyn subscribers have the opportunity to invest ten percent of their monthly contribution in the promotion of children’s and youth sports.

Fittingly, SCM junior player Malte Elze, who has just won the world championship title with the German U17 team, will be honoured at half-time of the game.