EHF Champions League
Ikast down reigning champions Vipers in majestic comeback
Ikast Håndbold provided the first shock of the season in the EHF Champions League Women, taking a 30:26 win against reigning champions Vipers, while FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria recorded their worst home loss in nearly seven years, dropping the game against Metz Handball 25:38. MKS Zagłębia Lubin marked their debut to the EHF Champions League Women group stage with a hefty 18:36 loss to Krim.
Romanian champions CSM Bucuresti opened their account with a 28:24 win over Odense, while DVSC Schaeffler secured their second-ever win in the European premium competition, 32:29, over Sävehof.
It’s been a good start, and I really like it here in Ikast with the girls and coaches. We had a really good tactic plan and we followed it. The defence did a really good job, which also makes my job easier.
For us, there were some situations where it was not working, and they were really effective and the goalkeeper did a really good job as well. It’s the beginning of the season, and we have new centre defenders and they need a little bit more time. Our flow was not good today.
I am very happy, because we started the preseason with six missing players, but today, here we are. I didn’t know what to expect from FTC, because they have a new coach. I’m not sure what the future holds; every point matters in the Champions League.
They punished us for all of our mistakes. I am disappointed about the debut; we practiced well yesterday, but today everything went wrong. I am happy that there will be a game next week, because we can show our real quality there.
It was a really good feeling. We were waiting for a game for a long time. We knew it would be a tough game, and I am happy we kept fighting until the end and we kept a cool mind; this is the most important, the greatest point.
It is a pleasure to play here with a loud audience. Am a little frustrated with how we started our first half. I think it was tough on us and made a lot of mistakes that we were punished for. It went fast, the first ten minutes. But I am also proud of our second half. I think it went well and we stood together as a team. As a new team with a lot of new players, we have a lot to learn from playing against such a great team.
This was my first Champions League match. We talked a lot about it earlier with the girls, and I am really happy that I could help the team with my performance. I am really glad that our defence was pretty okay, but I think we need to improve our pivot defence.
We met with a quite good team. We don’t have such strong teams in our league. We tried to do everything to catch them in the result, but we failed. Perhaps if we didn’t play well only in the last 15 minutes, the outcome of the match would have been better.
