Nantes and GOG host crucial games as play-offs conclude
After dominant first-leg wins Telekom Veszprém HC (against their domestic rivals OTP Bank-Pick Szeged) and THW Kiel (against C.S. Dinamo Bucuresti) both have one foot in the doors of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League quarter-finals.
In contrast, two play-off confrontations remain very much undecided. HBC Nantes will have to win the Match of the Week at home against Orlen Wisla Plock in order to progress, after drawing 32:32 last Wednesday in Poland. GOG will start the second leg of the all-Danish confrontation two goals down, after losing to Aalborg Håndbold last week.
I expect a great Champions League evening, just like we are used to in the Wunderino Arena. We will not let ourselves be blinded by the first leg victory and will also play for victory on Wednesday, because our dream is the quarter-finals. There will be no resting, instead we want to extend our lead.
It's a difficult game, of course. They took good advantage in Bucharest. It's practically impossible to pass the play-offs. But I want to change our image, I would like to do a good game in Kiel, because it's an amazing place also. We can play better handball then we did in the first game and this is our goal.
It will be a really tough game and if we want to win we each need to play at our best. The game will be like a war but what I’m sure about is that we are going to give all we've got.
We just won the first half of this clash. We are motivated to keep it and win again. We would like to enjoy this match, but we know that it will be a tough. I think they will come to Veszprém full motivated and with a lot of power. For us it will be a little bit difficult because in Szeged we won easier than we thought, thus we need to stay calm and focused during the whole match.
It is now or never. After an incredible game at home with our fans supporting us we got a good foundation before the return game. Once again a believe that it will be a very close match where the two goal lead can be really important and decisive for us. We will bring all we have got into this game to go to the quarter finals.
