Rematch of the final in MOTW; former coaches duel in Veszprém
After a one-week break, the Machineseeker EHF Champions League is back with a bang — the MOTW in Barcelona is the rematch of last season’s final. Barça, the only team with a maximum of six points in group B, will host Aalborg. Szeged, second in the standings of group B, face a difficult trip to Zagreb, while Kielce will try to bounce back in Magdeburg.
In group A, two teams have the optimum of six points by now — Sporting CP and Dinamo Bucuresti — but they have tough away tests ahead. At Veszprém, the hosts and Dinamo will face their former coaches, while three teams in the same group hope for their first points.
We are expecting a very difficult match in Paris. They have a very strong team, with Luc Steins as the mastermind of the attack. They also have one of the best goalkeeper duos in Andreas Palicka and Jannick Green.
Sporting play impressive handball in the Champions League with excellent team play. They play excellent handball and it is no coincidence that they have won three times in the Champions League and played a great match against Veszprém. However, this is a new match, we are playing in front of our spectators, and the Bitola audience knows how to recognise quality.
A difficult environment awaits us to play in, very, very complicated, but we believe we can win there. To do this we will have to be at our level and pay attention to Kuzmanovski, who is a player who makes a lot of difference in Pelister's game. We will prepare very well for this game and try to add another victory, which would be important for us and our goals.
We are looking forward to the challenge of playing in Barcelona and the Palau Blaugrana, which is one of the premier arenas in world handball. We know we will have to perform at the highest level to get a result, but we have already showed against Nantes and Magdeburg what we are capable of.
