And talking about experience, Gonzalez has the pleasure of welcoming Nikola Karabatic back to his team.
Karabatic, who turned 37 in April, returned in May after recovering from the knee injury that had kept him away from the courts since October.
“It changes a lot of things for us. Nikola is able to do everything on the court and he is very enthusiastic about being back,” Gonzalez said.
“At the end of a very long season, to have such a player back, to see him running after every ball as if he has not played handball for three years, it gives the whole team a boost.”
It will be a welcome boost in the semi-final against unheralded Aalborg Håndbold. The Danish side might be playing at the EHF FINAL4 for the first time, but Gonzalez knows that Cologne has been the home to many surprises through the years.
“I respect this team a lot, they beat Flensburg who beat us twice this season,” Gonzalez said. “We know that this weekend we will be playing the final on Saturday. We can’t think about anything but Aalborg right now.”