Sabate feels it’s time to start the trophy fight as Veszprem host Metalurg
Sabate úgy érzi, itt az idő elkezdeni a trófeákért a harcot, a Veszprém a Metalurgot fogadja
Reigning SEHA Gazprom champions, Telekom Veszprem, are all set for the beginning of the second part of the season after making some important future decisions hiring Swedish expert Ljubomir Vranjes from summer of 2017. Xavi Sabate will until then keep his coaching position trying to make Veszprem go all the way in each competition they are a part of.
Their first rivals in 2017 will be Macedonian vice-champions Metalurg Skopje on Saturday (18.00 CET) in Veszprem Arena. Quick reminder - Veszprem have already secured a place on F4 for third year in a row.
Xavi Sabate, Telekom Veszprem coach:
It’s time for the second
part of the season, period when we’ll fight for trophies. First part of the
season was tough as we’ve had 40 games, 24 of which on the road suffering
several injuries and I think I could not ask more than the team did in that
time. Considering all this I can say we’ve had a fine first half of the season.
Players who did not participate in France were training here in Veszprem and
are well-prepared and motivated to fight for every trophy starting from
tomorrow and a duel against Metalurg.
Péter Gulyás, Telekom Veszprem player:
A very hard first half of
the season is behind us. All the teams are at the moment affected by the World
Championship - some of them in a positive and some in a negative way. However,
second part of the season is all set to begin and I think this is the main
essence of the whole season. We must work hard in order to achieve our goals.
These first two games this weekend will be very good opportunity for us to put
the team together again and get into the best form for bigger challenges that
are right around the corner.
Lino Cervar, Metalurg Skopje coach:
We are coming back to
SEHA competition after a long break due to World Championship in France. Our
first rival is one of the strongest team in European handball and absolute
favorite in our clash. Veszprem have top quality players on every position who
can play outstanding handball and against whom it is difficult to stay in
balance. However, we are going to Veszprem to try to deliver our style. I hope we
will put number of technical mistakes on minimum and that our both defense and
attack will have a good day.
Nikola Kosteski, Metalurg player:
Veszprem are one of the
biggest favorites to win SEHA Gazprom League trophy. They are absolute
favorites, especially on their court, but as we all know handball is a game of
two halves in which a team that play better takes it all so I believe we can
achieve good things in case we manage to deliver our best performance.