Garcia: Our dream is not over
He could be the father of some of the Granollers’ youngsters, and Antonio Garcia Robledo is certainly the leader of the young Spanish side that made it to the final of the EHF European League on Sunday, where they will face Füchse Berlin.
On Saturday, 39-year-old Garcia was second top scorer for Granollers with six strikes in the 31:29 semi-final victory against Frisch Auf Göppingen. With 87 goals in his season tally now, Garcia is the top scorer still in the competition.
In this interview with eurohandball.com, the 2013 world champion talks about the miracle in Flensburg, the spirit of his team and the chances against Füchse on Sunday.
Did a dream come true for you today?
Antonio Garcia: It is not a dream, it is a miracle. We try it again tomorrow, because the dream is not over. Tomorrow there is still one more step.
What was crucial for beating Göppingen in the semi?
Antonio Garcia: We never gave up. The team is growing from every match, before we came and even today. In the second half, it looked like Göppingen controlled the game, but we never gave up and took our chance. Finally, we knew we could win when we were ahead again.
The key was the defence and how we ran back in the second half. In the first half, Göppingen scored many easy goals, but in the second half we stopped them. We changed it, and Göppingen had a lot of problems with our defence. This was the key.
Granollers are the first Spanish finalist in EHF Cup and European League Men since 2007 — did you know that you made history tonight?
Antonio Garcia: This is an amazing record. Nobody believed in this team at the beginning of the season, nobody trusted us, and now we are in the final. In the whole competition, everybody wanted to play against us, but we are still here — we are in the final. No matter what happens tomorrow, it will be an unbelievable day. I am sure we will win our first trophy.
You face Füchse Berlin in the final. What do you think about your opponents?
Antonio Garcia: Berlin have a super team. A team that can win the Bundesliga, win the European League and even could win the Champions League. They have a lot of superstars. We are lucky to play against the biggest stars of handball, but of course, we will try to beat them.
After beating Flensburg and Göppingen this season, do you like to face German teams?
Antonio Garcia: We have the chance to beat another team, yes. I do not know which team had beaten so many German teams in one season before. Now we can do it. We try everything, but it will be so hard — they are the favourites. Who knows? Everything can happen in handball. We have shown this season that we can do everything.
