Barça end SCM curse, Veszprém turn the tide
After round 2 of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League is played, seven teams still have a clean record with two wins: Aalborg, Kiel and Paris in group A, Veszprém, Barça, GOG and Porto in group B. In contrast, 2023 Champions League winners SC Magdeburg lost their second straight match, getting outclassed at Barcelona.
Kielce had a deserved win, it was a great experience for us to play at home with a great atmosphere. We lost the game in the last 10 min of the first half, a lot of bad decisions, and against a great team as Kielce it is not good enough. But I am proud of our team, we kept fighting.
We started the game very concentrated, but in the second half, Kolstad showed how good team they are and with a lot of good players. It was a nice fight, we were happy to get two points in the end.
It was a perfect start for me in Kiel with this win in a big game against a great opponent. I have to admit that I felt a bit of pressure this morning because I knew it would be my first Champions League game with THW. But Filip (Jicha) told me that my only job is to help the team. I will keep working to help my team.
For us it's a crazy situation: We have seven new players and a new staff, and it's very difficult to put things together. I think we need more time to practise. Nevertheless we played very well in the first half, in the second half we lost too many balls in attack so Kiel could score fast and easy goals.
We really played good in attack, particularly in the first half of the game, where we scored a lot of goals. In defense, we prepared well our system and we know what we have to do against this attack of Zagreb. I am happy to be back in the team and surprised of this incredible atmosphere tonight.
We can be satisfied for this game regarding our club context. We’ve changed our head coach last week so it was a messy week for us. We tried to collect ourselves together and I think we succeed in this process in order to play a good game. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay in the game at the end.
Montpellier were fighting till the end. It is always hard to play against them. It is the Champions League, anyone can beat anyone. Our defence was the key, in the second half we were getting better in the goal. Fortunately, we could take the lead. I liked the mentality of the team, that was the key to win.
We played very well and fought until the end. Despite the defeat, I am proud of our team, as we pushed until the last moment. We came for the two points, but unfortunately, we have to go home without them.
Everything worked since the beginning of the game. We had a bit of a revenge to solve and we accomplished. We showed our potential. We’ve lost some players, but I still think we can be in Cologne and win it all.
We need to show more consistency. We have had really good but also bad performances, so we need to find a balance. There are no words after a loss like tonight. In the first half we struggled to build up our attack and it was easy for Nielsen to make saves.
