Growing appetite

Director of Podravka Vegeta was confident about the strength of his team well before the group matches. Time proved that he was right. Today he still believes in his team and has even higher expectations.

Eurohandball.com: Podravka achieved their best results in the last 10 years by making it to the best eight teams of Europe. Very few people would have believed in your team.

Marijan Domović: Last two seasons we did not have luck with the draw. In 2006/07 we were in the same group with Viborg and a year ago with Slagelse. We all know what Viborg and Slagelse did in the recent years. We always had very tough opponents and we ended third in our groups.

This season, with the help of our reinforcements, we managed to finish second in our group in front of Larvik who have five Norwegian internationals in their squad. And we know that Norway are Olympic and European Champions. Now we have much more confidence and we are not satisfied by only being among the top eight teams. Now we want more!

Eurohandball.com: Hypo, Budućnost, Krim and Podravka are in the main round.

Marijan Domović: I have to say that this is no surprise for me. All four teams have been playing important role in European handball. For sure the Regional League has helped us a lot and I’m convinced that by playing in this league our clubs will continue to grow and achieve even better results.

Eurohandball.com: Any reinforcements or negotiations?

Marijan Domović: Our Headquarters decided that we do not need reinforcements right now. There are many high quality players who would like to join us next season and we are working on that.

Eurohandball.com: You were optimistic before the start of group phase. What do you expect from the main round?

Marijan Domović: We are very much aware that all teams are very strong here, especially in our group. I believe Viborg and Hypo are the best teams with the best players today. It will be very hard to play against them, but we do not plan to put a white flag up. We will continue to fight – this time with even greater motivation.