Danes with modest expectations

Danish team Viborg HK, debutants in the Men’s Champions League, know exactly that they are underdogs in their first match in Group E. Viborg will play away against HSV Hamburg on Thursday evening.

“It is going to be a huge challenge for us. As I said several times before, I consider Hamburg and Chehovski Medvedi to be favourites of our group. There is not doubt that Hamburg are huge favourites in this match against us,” Viborg coach Søren Hildebrand told Eurohandball.com.

“Hamburg started perfectly in the Bundesliga, and they play very fast – sometimes maybe too fast, however, and that may be our tiny chance in the match. Anyway, I hope we can improve, compared to our latest match (a 36-28 home defeat to FCK Håndbold in the Danish league on Friday, ed.).

“We definitely underperformed that match and I hope that this will not happen again. If we lose against HSV after having done our best, that is just the way it has to be. But I would hate to leave Hamburg with another poor performance from our side,” said the Viborg coach.

Intense atmosphere

“I noticed that the match has been moved from the large Colorline Arena to HSV’s former home ground, Alsterdorfer Sporthalle. If that hall is full on Thursday evening, it can still be quite noisy with an intense atmosphere. It will be important for us to remember this and not to be intimidated,” said Søren Hildebrand, who will travel to Hamburg with the players already on Wednesday morning in order to have as much time as possible to prepare at the venue. The match will start at 18.30 in the Sporthalle Hamburg.

Viborg have no injury problems at the moment, while there is doubt about former Viborg player, Hans Lindberg, in Hamburg. The experienced French playmaker, Guillaume Gilles, is also out due to an injury.