Sporting, Nantes book first quarter-final tickets
Sporting CP and HBC Nantes are the first two confirmed quarter-finalists after both teams locked up the top position in their respective group of the EHF European League Men main round on Tuesday. Sporting beat titleholders Füchse Berlin for the second straight week to win group IV, while Nantes had a straightforward victory at Górnik Zabrze to secure top spot in group I. Rhein-Neckar Löwen and RK Nexe also had important wins to wrap up round 3 action.
We got off to a good start. But after that, Löwen clearly showed us our limits. We have failed too often because of a strong David Späth, who played an outstanding game. Löwen then had the momentum on their side and played it to the end in a disciplined manner. Our attack was too predictable today.
Unfortunately we had a very nervous start. But my team improved in attack and also did what we had planned in defence. David (Späth) was a very important stabiliser today and kept us in the game with his saves, especially in the first half. This meant we were able to extend our lead later and leave the court as the deserved winners.
Nantes played in a very good way. However, I cannot be satisfied with our play, because again we did not take advantage of one-on-one opportunities. Without these goals, it is difficult to fight against a rival like HBC Nantes.
We finished at the first place in the group, so we are very happy. Maybe the result suggests that we won easily, but it was a hard game and we need to fight for every goal.
We were aware that we played the match in Velenje badly, we were in a certain psychological block, and we needed this victory to get back into a positive rhythm and to show character.
At the beginning, it was already clear that it would be an interesting match. We played well in the first half, while in the second half we lost the rhythm of the game. RK Nexe have a wider bench as well as more experience, and that was the deciding factor in the end.
We knew we had to be even better than we were in Berlin and I think we did that. Leo Maciel was crucial. We were also better in the last minutes. We want to be in the EHF Finals. The atmosphere was the best I've experienced in Pavilhão João Rocha.
In the first half we didn't start well, but took the draw and were back in the game. In the start of the second half, we were good, but Sporting CP took the lead really fast. We knew what they wanted to do, but we didn't have the ability to do that. The goalkeeper [Leo Maciel] was also very good today and we missed some chances. Big respect to Sporting CP, they deserved it."
