French-Hungarian derbies headline round 5
The EHF Champions League Women Match of the Week travels to France as Metz Handball try to end FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria's perfect streak. Krim Mercator are looking to remain unbeaten while Podravka Vegeta and Nykøbing Falster Håndbold dream of their first wins in the competition.
In group B, the headline will be the battle between the two unbeaten sides in the group, Brest and Györ, a rivalry that saw five draws in 11 mutual clashes.
We have faced extremely good opponents so far in Champions League, but I feel we are making progress match by match. I think we have improved our whole game, but I would say that the defensive game has improved the most. It will be very nice to see Mona again, we haven't seen each other since the summer, so I'm really looking forward to that. I think it will be an exciting match, with a lot of pace.
We are ready and motivated to fight for our second win at home. HC Podravka Vegeta are an ambitious team and it will certainly be a difficult match, but the fact that we will be playing with a full house gives us confidence for this game.
I can't wait to play them because I think it's really our first big game of the season. From there we'll be able to really assess ourselves, see if we're training well, see if we're up to Champions League standards to get to the EHF FINAL4 or if we're going to have to work very, very hard again because we're a long way from that. I'm really looking forward to this match and I think it's going to be a great spectacle.
I am excited about this match, because we are facing one of the toughest opponents in the group. It will be a very hard game, but our main goal is to continue our winning streak, and get another two points.
We have competed against our rivals many times in the past years, but this year we are talking about a different Krim. We have the strength, we have the connection and we have the focus until the end of the game. I believe that on Saturday it will be the last 10 minutes of the game that will decide who wins. CSM Bucuresti punish even the smallest mistakes, so we will not allow ourselves to make them.
Esbjerg are a team with top players in every position and we know how difficult they are to face. They are strong in all phases of the game and the key for us is to follow our game plan to the letter and to stay accurate and precise in all our actions.
It will be the first time that we play against Odense. We know that it's going to be a difficult game away, they have very good players that show every week how dangerous they are and they also have a very good coach. However, we go to Odense full of positive energy because we want points. So, we have to be focused the whole match and show our best handball version.
Obviously a match that everyone is waiting for. The ticket office filled up quickly. Personally, I'm waiting for it too. As soon as I signed my contract with Brest, I hoped to be in the group with Györ and play against this team. I think that it's actually the best team and we always want to play against the best. It's a very exciting match.
It's a little bit of, let's say, early group final and of course, if we can manage a win there, we put ourselves in a very good situation to be among the two best teams in this group, which is the big target for us. We expect a super tough game against a team that has a lot of confidence and we need to for sure play our best game of the season if we are going to take the two points there.
