Big clashes ahead in last round of the group phase
The Machineseeker EHF Champions League 2025/26 reaches round 14 this week, as teams in both groups look forward to the final battles for play-off positions.
We are looking forward to meet up with Kielce again, we had some great games against them before. And since we are the only two teams that have taken points from group leaders Füchse, it can be a great finish of our season.
Kolstad Handball has nothing to lose, and such matches are the most difficult. We want to win and we will approach this game with full focus. We do not want to break our winning streak. There is no question of excessive motivation — we will travel focused but calm. Kolstad beat Füchse at home, which shows that they are a dangerous team and must be respected.
Of course, we must beat Aalborg. But to do that we need to remain consistent throughout the entire match. Unfortunately, this has rarely happened this season. Even in some of our winning games we ended up holding on to only a one- or two-goal advantage by the end. On several occasions we have even lost matches from a leading position. This is something we must work on solving.
I am looking forward to the match against Veszprém. Even though we have nothing to play for, I think we need to focus on our own game, and take on the challenge in a very difficult away game with an amazing atmosphere.
We are going to face this match with a great sense of responsibility. It's Champions League and we need to enjoy and take the best out of each moment. Dinamo is a great opponent. Strong team, good players and well-coached. We need to prepare ourselves to be our best version.
We are Dinamo and our mentality is to approach every game with the ambition to win, and this one will be no exception. Even though we know that qualifying for the next stage is no longer possible for us, we will go into the match with the clear objective of winning and continuing to consolidate our way of playing as a team.
It is difficult to predict how the game will go. Nantes will be looking at the other results, but we are preparing as normal and will give it our all on the court. Anything can happen, and we are focusing on our process.
We have another opportunity to keep improving. We need to continue showing ambition to improve. We are playing at home against a very good opponent who needs the points to improve their ranking. I expect a full ORLEN Arena for this final group match. The players deserve it.
We would like to finish the group stage on a positive note, because our last three matches did not go the way we wanted. We will be playing away at the home of a very in-form Orlen Wisla Plock, and our Polish opponent has already secured third place in the group. We, on the other hand, would like to move up in the standings.
We played a strong match in Zagreb last time. We know they bring a lot of physicality, and as always we need to make the game about our speed. We come into the match with confidence after taking points in our recent Champions League games, and we want to give our loyal home crowd a win.
Despite travelling to Denmark without some key players, we are confident that we have what it takes to deliver a strong performance and show that we are a better team than the standings might suggest going into this final group phase round. We will have to find a way to slow them down — that will be the key.
Everyone knows the level of Magdeburg. They are a complete team, very structured and used to playing big European games, so it will be a real battle. But we are in a good moment. The win in Montpellier showed our character and gave us extra confidence.
For us, it's still about winning. No matter what Barça does, we want to do our job and keep playing our game. That's incredibly difficult against a team like PSG, especially in their own arena, but that doesn't change our goals.
We have the chance to close the group phase in the first position, and we want to do so no matter what can happen with the placements in both groups. We are in a great run and our job is to keep going in this way. We have a lot of respect for Eurofarm Pelister and for the run they had in Europe this season. We are aware of their result last week and we can’t have any relaxation on the court.
Every player is honored to play against Barça, it's the dream of every boy who starts playing handball. Additional motivation is not needed. We work every day to improve. The last two matches in the Champions League have brought many good things. The team is growing, we are working well and there is nothing to fear.
