Veszprém and Sporting clash in high-octane MOTW
The Match of the Week in round 12 of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2024/25 will see a duel between leaders One Veszprém HC and runners-up Sporting CP in group A, as the Portuguese champions are so far the only team who beat Veszprém this season. Their hunters from Paris and Berlin have away matches in Denmark and Poland, while Dinamo Bucuresti can book their play-off ticket if they win at Bitola.
Last week’s results distributed the cards again in group B, as four teams still have a chance to proceed directly to the quarter-finals. Barça and Aalborg look in a better position, but they will have to take points in round 12 against Kielce and Magdeburg, respectively.
Nantes and Szeged, who play against each other this week, are still in a position to move up, and the winner of the encounter will have a stronger chance to do so. At the bottom of the table, the clash between Zagreb and Kolstad will award two crucial points, as both teams are battling for a play-offs spot.
From now on, every match is like a final for us, as we badly need more points to secure our position. We want to do that at home against Berlin. Füchse are a great team with the world's best player, Mathias Gidsel, in their ranks, but they also have world-class players in other positions, such as Dejan Milosavljev, Lasse Anderson, Mijajlo Marsenić and Manuel Strlek. Last time we put up a fierce fight against them, but we were unlucky at the end. I hope that this time, on the wings of our success in France, we will give it our best and win two points.
It's an important game for us regarding the first and second place. The door has opened a little bit more after the defeat of Paris last week. Unfortunately, we lost to Plock, so we should not only be warned, but we know the quality of the Polish side — especially at home. We can expect a heated atmosphere and enthusiastic fans.
They have great players — they are young, fighters, competitors, always in the game, and they never give up. They play spectacular handball and have the kind of character which is needed for success. Looking back, they won against us in Lisbon relatively easily — they showed strength and controlled everything from the first minute. They are a bold, determined team. We will need to play much better than we did in that match if we want to win.
We will face one of the most competent opponents in this competition, on one of the most spectacular stages of the event. Veszprém are the leaders of the group, with all due merit, and we will try to defend our second place, knowing the many difficulties we will encounter. We are really looking forward to doing good things and bringing points back to Lisbon. We know about the various qualities in Veszprem's game, both individual and collective, and only the best Sporting CP will be able to win.
With only three games remaining in the group stage, securing two more points would guarantee our place in the next round, making this encounter a key opportunity to move closer to our objective. Eurofarm Pelister are a direct rival in the standings. We are fully aware of the importance of this match, and we are ready to fight for the points at stake. For us, beyond the importance of the result, improving our overall performance will be essential.
We are excited for the fight that awaits us in Arena Zagreb, hopefully we will experience the Croatian crowd at its best as we saw in the World Championship! Our focus is to keep improving our play and correct the mistakes we made last year in both games against Zagreb. The energy levels will probably be crazy, so our job will be to find the golden balance where we perform at our best. No doubt one of the hardest away matches in the Champions League is coming up for us!
It’s going to be a big fight, but we’re at home and ready. They are taller and more athletic, but we know how to play against this kind of team, thanks to our mobility. We all remember the first leg, but that was at the beginning of the season. Tomorrow will be different.
We want to collect points and not calculate. But of course, we know that a world-class team is coming. With probably the best goalkeeper of the last 15 years and top players like Thomas Arnoldsen.
Going back to Germany will be exciting. We played a really good match against them at home, but we are also aware of their strength. It is a team we know we can beat, but we need to bring all we have got to take home the two points.
We go to Barcelona to win. We need these two points, we know it will be a difficult game. We don’t have a good momentum right now, we are not in the position we would like to be. We will fight until the final whistle, we will go to Barcelona to make a good game. In my career I played against Spanish teams many times, for me it is a just another game and I do what I can to win for Kielce. For me, Alex or Dani (Dujshebaev) it doesn’t matter that we play in Spain against Spanish teams. This will be an usual game for us.
