Familiar foes to meet in crunch play-offs
The EHF Champions League Women 2024/25 is back as the play-offs promise to deliver thrilling encounters in the battle for the quarter-finals. The Match of the Week travels to Koprivnica on Saturday where HC Podravka Vegeta will try to beat French powerhouse Brest Bretagne Handball, while last season's finalists HB Ludwigsburg will face Krim Mercator Ljubljana on home soil.
The Romanian derby between CSM Bucuresti and Rapid Bucuresti, as well as the Scandinavian clash between Odense Håndbold and Storhamar Handball Elite, also promise to bring exciting action in the race for the quarter-finals.
We've played really, really good games so far, so why not this game on Saturday, and the next one in Brest. Nobody thought we'd play such good handball and make it to the play-offs. Now is the time. Brest are definitely the favourite. We weren't the favourite in any of the games, which is why I think this will be a very good game on Saturday. There's not too much pressure on our side.
I‘m looking forward to the match. Podravka have played a good season until now and I expect a tough game. We have to play at a high level and if we do that, I‘m certain that we‘ll be in a good situation for the second game at home.
This game in the Champions League play-offs against CSM Bucuresti is a special match for Romania with a fantastic emotional dimension. It’s a Bucharest derby, the arena will be full and I am sure that it will be a beautiful match for the fans. We have to prepare the match and to fight very well and I believe that the team is ready and wants to prove that Rapid deserve the place at this stage of the Champions League.
Ljubljana have an outstanding squad with many top players. While they haven't achieved good results all season, they've been performing better recently. Therefore, I expect a close game with a 50-50 chance of reaching the quarter-finals. The first leg at home will be very important, and we want to win it to lay a good foundation for the difficult away game in Ljubljana. We want to have a strong defence and play with a lot of pace going forward.
Our opponents might be somewhat similar to us – they have had ups and downs in the EHF Champions League. It's true that we're playing the first game away, but this game will reveal a lot. From experience, I know that Sunday's result won't be decisive, but we still want a positive outcome. We're definitely going to Germany for the win – that's our goal.
Odense are a solid team with many experienced players and a lot of experience from Europe. For us it is about setting the pace of the game and winning as many of the duels in our defence as possible. It will also be important to focus on avoiding simple technical errors, so that we do not give them the opportunity for easy counterattacks.
