“Still a great adventure for us”

They’re disappointed only a little bit, but they want to enjoy the “adventure of Champions League” also in the last two matches: Eurohandball.com talks to Nürnberg’s top scorer, Ania Rösler, about their sensational matches and also about missing the semi-finals.

Eurohandball.com: Ania, your team lost the last two home matches in the Champions League against Togliatti and Győr. After Nürnberg have no more chances to reach the semi-finals, how big is your disappointment?

Rösler: Of course we are disappointed, but only a bit. We had no more energy in the last matches as it was very tough for us to play in the Champions League, German League and German Cup parallel. But we keep our heads up for the forthcoming matches. We reached much more than we ever could have expected before this season. So we’re proud of what we earned. We never dreamed that we would come so far. The only sad thing is that Győr defeated us with such a big goal difference. We were not as bad as the result suggests.

Eurohandball.com: Nürnberg still have two matches to play – away in Valcea and Togliatti. What are your objectives?

Rösler: We want to play in the best possible form, and we want to enjoy these matches. The Champions League is still a big adventure for us. This is a competition where we can learn a lot. As we were the biggest outsiders even in the first group phase, but especially now in the Main Round, we can have fun in these matches. But fun doesn’t mean that we will not give all that we can.

Eurohandball.com: In your first match in the Main Round, Nürnberg reached a sensational draw against Valcea with your last-second goal. Did you ever dream of reaching the semi-final?

Rösler: Only for a very short time. In the first group phase we started with a sensational draw against Zvezda and afterwards we went through to the Main Round. So we hoped that the same could occur in the Main Round where we also started with a draw against the big favourites. But then we had to realise that the other teams are stronger. It’s not a disaster to be eliminated in the Main Round by those teams.

Eurohandball.com: Nürnberg is the first German team ever to reach this stage of the Champions League. Did something change in the club after this international success?

Rösler: Yes of course. Playing in the Champions League is great; it means so much for us. A lot of people, who were not interested in women’s handball, now come to our matches due to our international success. Especially our first Main Round match against Valcea, which was broadcast on Eurosport, made us better known.

Even in our league matches the playing hall is sold out now, football supporter come to our matches and cheer for us – there’s a great atmosphere. I think we did a lot to improve women’s handball in Nürnberg and even in Germany. The interest is growing. So we should have one objective for this season: becoming German champions again so that we play in the Champions League next season.

We want to play again against the best teams of the world, so we have to give 200% to become champions again. And another aspect: playing in the Champions League meant also that we found new sponsors - and this was very important for our club.

Eurohandball.com: And what did the Champions League mean for you personally?

Rösler: A dream came true. Some years ago I looked at my idols and said: you will never reach so far. This season I play in the same competition. Brilliant! Look at our first match against Zvezda when we played against ten world champions, or look at the matches like Győr, Krim or Valcea. I never expected to get a chance like this in my life to play against such a great number of world class players.