Karabatic: "Nothing decided yet"

The match between Danish champions KIF Kolding and French title holders Montpellier HB last Saturday was the only match among the first leg games of the round of the Last 16, which did not end with an away win, as the match resulted in a 26-26 draw.

Montpellier’s most famous player, Nikola Karabatic saw it as an advantage to his team that the match had been moved from Kolding to Århus due to a wrestling tournament in Kolding’s usual hall.

"The fact that the match was moved gave Kolding less support from the crowd, than they would have got on their normal home ground. There is no doubt that we benefitted from that," Karabatic told eurohandball.com after the match.

The 25 year old French international, who is often characterised the as the world’s finest handball player, returned to Montpellier before this season after four successful years with THW Kiel in the German Bundesliga.
eurohandball.com has talked with Karabatic who is world champion as well as European champion and Olympic champion with France.

eurohandball.com: Were you satisfied with the draw in the first leg?

Nikola Karabatic: I am content with the result, as a draw away in the first leg is always acceptable. Now we know that we will just have to win by one goal at home in the second leg on the coming Saturday in order to proceed to the quarter-finals. Of course we aim to win at home. We made some mistakes and lost a few balls in the first match, so we can probably not be happy with our performance, but the result is definitely acceptable.

eurohandball.com: Having won your preliminary group, have far do you think the Montpellier team can make it in the Champions League this year?

Nikola Karabatic: I simply do not know yet. There are still a lot of question marks regarding our team, but we strive to get better all the time. However, the luck in the draws for the future rounds will decide a lot. And first of all, we will still have to eliminate Kolding, before we can allow ourselves to think any further.

eurohandball.com: What has your return from Kiel to Montpellier been like for you?

Nikola Karabatic: I am very happy about that so far. I think we have a strong team that has developed a lot. For instance in the match against Kolding, I think all the players proved that we can do well under pressure in an important away match at a high level. I think this team is definitely on the right track.

eurohandball.com: Speaking of your upcoming second leg against Kolding, only having to win by one goal at home might seem like a piece of cake. How do you see that?

Nikola Karabatic: Nothing is decided yet. Kolding have played fine away matches before, and Champions League matches are always something special, but we definitely do not expect to lose at home.