With two more days to think about the result, Tamara Horacek - who was named Player of the Match with eight goals - is satisfied with the away victory.
“Even with a two-goal win, we would have been satisfied. Having played in Hungary, I know how hard it is to win in FTC, so winning by six is great. But if we won by six on their court, why can’t they do the same on ours?”
But Metz have not lost a home game in the EHF Champions League Women this season, and their reputation speaks for itself. According to many coaches and players, Les Arènes is one of the toughest arenas to win in across Europe.
“We are aware of that, but I know that every team can have an off-day. That’s what scares me the most, as I could also happen to us. So we have to be as focus as possible to try to avoid that,” says the 27-year-old centre back.
The French national player, whose mother Vesna also played for Metz, left the club in 2017, moving to Paris then to Siófok, before coming back to Lorraine in 2021. While some things and some faces changed in the four years she was away, she also noticed that the winning culture in Metz had remained exactly the same.
“It is in the DNA of the club. Here, every defeat is a setback and we have very high expectations for ourselves,” says Horacek, who will be leaving Metz again in the summer. The silver medallist with France at the last World Championship has signed for Nantes for the next two seasons, which means that the game against FTC on Sunday will be her last at home in the Champions League. Are the emotions coming to the surface already?
“I’m not thinking about it. This game is not about me leaving, it is about a group of 16 friends wearing the same jersey trying to make it to Budapest once again. There will be a time for goodbyes, and for sure, it will be emotional, but it is too early yet,” she says.
