Return phase starts as Veszprém host Plock in MOTW
After a two-week break, the Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2024/25 group phase resumes this week, with three rounds to be played before the end of 2024. All 16 teams competing are still able to book their ticket for the knockout phase, but some are clearly in a better position than others.
In group A, Paris have a tough test ahead at Sporting, and Veszprém host Plock in another duel of the Spanish coaches in the MOTW. Berlin hope to take revenge against Dinamo, while Eurofarm and Fredericia aim for their second victories.
In group B, leaders Barça will face the only team that managed to take a point from them in the group phase, hosting Nantes. Kielce and Aalborg will try to take their revenge after losing just by one goal in round 7, respectively against Szeged and Kolstad. At the bottom of the group, Zagreb will host Magdeburg as the Croatian side is desperately in need of points.
We will have a very important game in the EHF Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. We know it is a complicated opponent, but we will give our everything and with our supporters, we are going to fight. We expect, above everything, a Champions League match, we know PSG have great players.
The public expects big things from us for this match. It will be very difficult. Fredericia are a great team and we had a short period to work with the new coach. We are preparing well and will be even more ready by Wednesday. The whole city expects a victory and we will give our maximum for that.
With last round's defeat against Pelister, we’re looking to get revenge against the Macedonian side. They are known for an intimidating home arena, but we have had impressive performances on several big arenas in the Champions League.
This match is very important for Wisla and for us as well, especially since we are playing at home, and we need to perform better. We have a few injured players, so we will need the support of our fans on Thursday to secure these two points. Our goal is to finish first or second in the group, and these two points are absolutely crucial for that.
Veszprém are a great team that is one of the candidates for the EHF FINAL4. It is undoubtedly one of the best teams in Europe. Playing in Veszprém is special because the atmosphere there is fantastic. We are going there with the intention of making a surprise, we have nothing to lose and we will try to improve in some aspects of the game.
With Bucharest, we are playing against a direct rival for one of the top spots. We are almost obliged to score points in order to create a good position for the play-offs or even to preserve the possibility of finishing in the top two places and thus skipping the play-offs. We still have a score to settle with Bucharest from the first leg. It will be important for us to put up a good defence, which didn't work for long in the first leg.
Füchse boast a very cohesive squad, built by an ambitious technical team and led by a coach who has been at the helm for many years. Their goalkeeper knows what it takes to win the Champions League, and in our last encounter, their two Danish players alone accounted for 60 per cent of the goals we conceded. They are always a dangerous team, especially in their home arena. We cannot afford to be complacent. We work hard to be competitive both at home and away. If earning points in front of our fans is tough, doing so on the road is always even more challenging.
We are of course not happy about the outcome of the away game before the break. We want to show that we are better than that mostly in our attack. It is not good enough to even win the goalkeeper battle and still lose. We need to be ready and I do believe we can win this game on our strong home field.
It is always nice to come to Aalborg, but this time I'm on the other side. We will try to take two points, but I believe it will be a hard fight throughout. We took the points last time in Trondheim, but this time we are the away team.
We had a last shot in Nantes. We could have won, we could have lost. A draw is always a draw. We didn’t play bad, even though we lost a four-goal difference. We have to improve some details to win it tomorrow.
