Race for quarter-final tickets heats up in round 13
The penultimate round of the EHF Champions League Women group phase is bringing even more excitement this weekend. Metz Handball and Team Esbjerg could join Györi Audi ETO KC in the quarter-finals, and FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria might book the last remaining spot for the play-offs as they host Vipers Kristiansand in the MOTW on Saturday.
We are here to resist, to do everything we can and to correct every mistake we had in the first game against them. It will certainly not be easy for us, but we have to have a better focus in attack, to be more decisive and to use every chance.
In the past period we played several close matches against Györ. We kept pace with them throughout, but we still couldn't beat them. I hope this bad streak ends soon – even this weekend.
It is never good to lose a match; I think Bucharest played well against us. We will continue to strive for a win, for us only the good game is acceptable. We are preparing for a tough game in Debrecen. They always play well at home, with many fans cheering them on in the arena.
It's going to be a very important match, a trap match. We've had a good run so far. We want to continue to assert ourselves and continue in this direction. We are good at the moment and we want to continue like this.
It's a new game where we are big underdogs. Currently, we have a lot of injuries, but we'll ensure to make the best out of the situation and perform well.
It will be an exciting meeting, because in Romania we fought with this rival as equals and we were not far from bringing points to Lubin. I hope it will be similar this time, but we will get points. This is another important match for us, from which we want to get as much as possible. The return round in our performance already looks much better, as evidenced by the results - we no longer lose by such a large number of goals. We definitely feel better as a team, and I hope this will pay off in future matches.
For us, the next match against Lubin is really important. We know that it will be a very tough game because they are playing good and they are pushing everybody to the limit, especially at home. Also for us, it’s really important to recover our fighting spirit and to show everybody our good level again. We want to fight until the end for a chance to be in the next round.
FTC are a tough team to face. We know that they are very good defensively, and they have shown their qualities both in the Hungarian league and in the Champions League. They can give every opponent a tough time, and we have to be ready for everything. I think the key is to be a bit more patient than what we were against MKS Zaglebie Lubin last weekend. We have to move their defenders and get into better shooting positions before we finish our attacks. If we play two passes and shoot, it's very easy for the defence.
Krim are a team with a lot of experience, but their performances have varied this season. We saw it at first hand when we lost to them in Slovenia. But it is a team with many class players that have been at the top level for many years.
It gives us a lot of confidence that we can play against the very best. We can also beat the best teams when we hit the day; when we won in Metz, in Llubljana, beat Vipers at home, and now we also against Odense. When we really hit our top level, we are also a mouthful for the opponents, and that is a nice awareness to have.
