Statements about the VELUX EHF FINAL4

 

The biggest handball event of Europe, the VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne will kick off this weekend, with the participation of Telekom Veszprém. The “Építők” will face Polish champions, PGE Vive Kielce in the semifinal on Saturday at 3:15 pm, while in the other semifinal FC Barca Lassa will play against HC Vardar for Sunday’s final at 6:00 pm. We asked our head coach and players about their expectations and feelings before the big weekend.

 

David Davis: Everybody is thinking about winning and to go there and play two good games in 24 hours, and also to give everything in the first game to be able to reach the final against Kielce. It is good that we do not have so much time to prepare, only 2-3 days, because we will only prepare for one game, for the semifinal. No speculations at all. Kielce has a really good offense and a great goalkeeper. Their attack is terrific; they scored 30 goals almost on every game. It is not easy to stop them. In addition, their goalkeeper is good, and he let them possible to score easy goals from fast breaks on previous games. Their special talent against PSG was something you do not see on videos. The determination that they believed that they could beat them. They believed that they could qualify to the Final4.

 

 

László Nagy: For me, the final will be the game on Saturday, and we have to win that. My philosophy is to always prepare for the next game. We have had several experiences with Kielce, one of them, the 2016 Champions League final, is not so good. Personally, it works like an extra motivation for me, and we can still leave the court victorious on Saturday against them. We managed to beat them twice this season, we can play with confidence and a sweet taste in our mouths. Knowing Talant Dujshebaev he will think of something that can leave us surprised. Kielce could beat Paris by 10 goals at home. What are their weaknesses of our opponent? Based on their 10 goals victory, maybe nothing and we have to count with that Kielce that plays great and out of this world handball. We have to keep up with them.

 

 

Momir Ilic: It is something special for everyone to play in the Final4. Now in this case it is for us to be there again. It is nice to play something like this, for me especially. We will have a difficult job in Cologne, because we play the semifinal against a good team. We will try and we will do anything. You could see how good Kielce is in the quarterfinals and in any case, there is no advantage for any team, and to favorites in this clash, only 50-50% chance. It is going to be my last Final4, and it feels really nice to be there again, honestly. I cannot tell anything other now, because I am still in the feeling. I do not feel anything special now, because I need some time to cool down. Once I will not play there in a few years, I will realize how much I miss it.

 

 

Máté Lékai: I think we cannot draw conclusions from our two group games against Kielce, because in Cologne everything is different and new. Kielce had a lot of injuries this season, but I am sure that they will all recover for such event. I expect a tough game, because the opponent is really hard, but our goals are obvious. We want to qualify for the final and win the Champions League. For now, we concentrate on Saturday’s game, which will be life or death for us.

 

 

Andreas Nilsson: We are excited to play in Cologne again after missing a year and we have high expectations of course. I think it does not matter how many times we beat Kielce in the group because they have a really good team. I think it is going to be a big fight and hopefully we can come out on top in the end.

 

 

Gasper Marguc: First of all, I think everybody is really happy that we managed to get to the Final4 but I know that we do not want this to be the last step this season. We want to go all the way! The first opponent to that is going to be Kielce, against whom we had a lot of games in the past. Some more famous than the other. We also played against them twice this season in the group so I think there will be no secrets before each other but the Final4 is a special tournament where always the details decide. We have a few days to prepare for them, and do it as best as we can. We only focus on them, and if we manage to beat them, we will look at the other semifinal and our next opponent.

 

 

Photo: Dávid Vörös