As Lijewski is the longest-tenured member of Kielce’s current iteration of a team, he also knows what it takes to be an EHF Champions League winner. He scored five goals in the final against Veszprém six seasons ago in Cologne, what was one the most exciting finals in the history of the EHF FINAL4, and the one that featured the biggest comeback.
“Of course, I remember that game really well. But I have never watched it again, I have never hit the replay button. The recording of a game is there, on a shelf, and probably I will rewatch it someday with my daughters,” Lijewski said.
“Such a game will not happen again, I am pretty sure of that. It was a roller coaster of emotions. In the second half, many of us wanted that game just to be over soon, I am sure of it,” he added.
“We came back from nine goals down – wow, what an achievement! But we fought for each ball, we had a coach who believed in us. I think that our opponents helped us a bit as they thought they already won the game and in their minds were probably already wearing gold medals around their necks.”
From that winning team, only right back Pawel Paczkowski is still in Kielce’s squad, while Lijewski is now an assistant coach. On the other hand, current Veszprém’s coach Momir Ilic was still playing for the Hungarian side back then and became his team’s top scorer, with seven goals.
“I know him well from the time we were both playing in the German Bundesliga. He was always an amazing, versatile player. He was great in attack and in defence, he could score and assist,” Lijewski said of Ilic.
“You could tell he would make a good coach someday, because he was reading the game very well, opting for passes, not shots at times.”
Six years later, Lijewski and Ilic are set to meet again – albeit both in different role now. Would Lijewski trade an emotional roller coaster for an easier win?
“No matter which way, if it leads us to the win, I will take it!”