EHF Champions League
Top clashes to open second half of group phase
The group phase of the EHF Champions League Men 2021/22 has passed the halfway mark, with round 8 featuring interesting matchups to throw off the second half.
In group A, Aalborg, the 2021 finalists from Denmark, host Kiel in the Match of the Week on Wednesday, six days after losing 31:28 in Germany. The standout duel in group B is Kielce against Barça, meeting again a week after the Polish champions became the first team to beat Barça at home since 2015.
This game will be important for us to stay in the top of the group. I think we are the better team, which we also showed in parts of the game last week. It will be fun beating Kiel in Aalborg.
I’m really looking forward to coming back to Aalborg. They have a world-class team and showed this in Kiel. I expect a really tough match.
These are two equal teams, which was confirmed by the Final Four of the SEHA-League. The match, as always, will be difficult. We need to learn from the previous games with Zagreb. It is important to fight for the full 60 minutes and not allow any slumps in the game.
We were in a good rhythm throughout the whole match, we didn't have those 'black minutes' in our game when the opponents normally take advantage and make a gap in the result. We matched them well, and I hope we will have the strength and knowledge because we will not lack motivation this week.
I am so proud and happy because of our victory in Barcelona. But this game is already behind us, now we need to focus on the second one. Andi (Wolff) played amazingly in Barcelona and I hope he will do it again in Kielce.
I think (Kielce) have more pressure because they play at home now but the game, tactically, will be similar to the first one. I guess they are the most powerful team in the Champions League right now: They have players in a very good shape and able to score a lot of goals.
We need to improve in all areas of the game, we played way below our standards last week. No matter who the opponents are, our goal is always to win at home. We need to focus and play with confidence, we have to get back on track.
We had a bad game in Paris, but we want to show that this is not the real face of FC Porto. This Thursday, we want t make a good game like we did against Barcelona. Everybody is winning against everybody and we want to do better.
