Remili admitted that the 2022/23 season had been disastrous, saying: “It’s probably one of the hardest seasons of my career, the last one.”
He had several small injuries in the first half of the season while playing at Kielce, and then had the challenge of moving to Veszprém and soon facing Kielce again in the EHF Champions League quarter-finals, where the Hungarian club crashed out of the competition.
But Remili, who says “I’m not sure I’m this kind of mercenary who comes in, wins and leaves”, remains committed to Veszprém’s project of winning in Cologne.
“I’m always putting a lot of pressure on to myself. I cannot be lazy any more, I’m 28 years old. Now I earned this MVP, I won a lot of things with the national team, but now I want to win the Champions League. This is something I almost feel guilty to not win it yet,” he told podcast hosts Víctor Tomàs, Martin Vilstrup and Bengt Kunkel.
Remili is not underestimating the scale of the challenge ahead of himself and his clubmates, saying there is plenty of pressure on Veszprém to win their first Champions League title.
“This is the most difficult title to win. Being good for two weeks can happen to a lot of guys, but being consistent until the end, until the [EHF] FINAL4, and then during the FINAL4 being amazing during two days this is something I’ve never done,” he added, saying he felt it was time for him to step up and lead the hunt for the trophy.
“We show sometimes that we can be really good, but we need more consistency as a team,” Remili said, assessing Veszprém’s chances.
With three games to go in the group phase, Veszprém are in third place in group B with games against GOG, Montpellier Handball and SC Magdeburg ahead of them. Remili said he felt group leaders Barça remained the favourites, and pointed out that while the final game against Magdeburg could be key first Veszprém have to win the other games – with round 12 hosts GOG having been difficult opponents in the past.
“We have to show up during every game,” he said.
Remili also spoke about how he approaches playing on the line, and the way that France approached the EHF EURO, including the importance of his teammates such as legendary left back Nikola Karabatic.
Watch the whole interview here. Telekom Veszprém host GOG on Thursday 22 February at 18:45 CET (live on EHFTV).
Photo © Roland Peka
