Zagreb seek improvement against Flensburg

Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb’s captain Zlatko Horvat has a special connection with the fans. The top scorer of the match against Flensburg expects big support in the Zagreb Arena. He is convinced that the Croatian fans will be the decisive factor on Sunday’s match.

ehfCL.com: You were the top scorer of the match in Flensburg with 9 goals. Despite that fact, were there any disappointing aspects about that match?

Zlatko Horvat: I’m very sorry for our bad first-half display and also for our bad finish to the match. We had many chances but we didn’t take advantage of them.

Our defensive play improved in the second half but unfortunately we couldn’t do enough to equalize.

ehfCL.com: You’ll have the opportunity to show more on Sunday. Now you know the German team very well. What do you think about them at this point?

Zlatko Horvat: Flensburg, for sure, belong among the Top 10 clubs of Europe. They don't have big stars, but their team-play and positive spirit are their strongest weapons.

ehfCL.com: What were the reasons for your defeat in Germany?

Zlatko Horvat: In Flensburg, the home team had great support from their fans. They carried the team during its bad moments of the match and we simply couldn’t take advantage of their weaknesses.

ehfCL.com: Can your fans be a significant advantage for your team this time?

Zlatko Horvat: Support from the fans always means a lot to the team, and I expect big support from our fans in the Zagreb Arena.

I’m sure that with help of our fans we’ll defeat Flensburg this time. Hopefully, it will be by an even greater margin than three goals.

The VELUX EHF Men's Champions League Group D game HC Croatia Osiguranje ZAGREB (CRO) VS. SG Flensburg-Handewitt VS (GER) on Sunday 28th November 2010 at 17:30 hrs (local time) is our „Match of the Week" and will be broadcast live on our free-of-charge web stream on ehfTV.com, including English commentary by Tom O'Brannagain.