Bašić: One win is all we need

Chambéry Savoie Handball are a team littered with talented internationals. Edin Bašić played in Bosnia, in Croatia, and then in Switzerland. He joined Chambéry two years ago, and quickly became a key player for the French club. He was elected best centre back in the French league last year, scoring more than eight goals per game since the beginning of the season. He talked to ehfCL.com ahead of their clash with Kielce.

ehfCL.com: How do you feel after losing to PSG 24:28?
Edin Bašić: We knew that it would be hard, and that our team wasn't at the same level as PSG. We had two players injured (Bičanić and Nyokas), and it was hard to compensate for that, especially in a match like this. We played very well, but we missed some opportunities at key moments in the game. Since the Paris players have a lot more experience than us, they took the opportunity. Karel Nocar, our left winger, took a hit in the knee and didn't come back for the rest of the game, but apparently he will be able to play on Sunday.

ehfCL.com: What do you think of this Kielce team?
Edin Bašić: They have the potential to win the VELUX EHF Champions League, either this season or in the next few. They are well ahead of us, stronger than us. They've got two world class players at every position. But we're at home, and if we play our best handball the crowd will push us and maybe we can do something good. I think that their coach, Bogdan Wenta, came here two years ago and lost with Kielce, so he and his players will be very concentrated. They know that we're hard to play when we're playing at Le Phare, but with this kind of team, it's all about concentration. If they're motivated and determined, it will be very hard for us to get a result.

ehfCL.com: We saw in the past games that Kielce have a strong relationship between their back players Michał Jurecki and Tomasz Rosiński and their pivot Željko Musa. Any idea how you can stop them?
Edin Bašić: We've been training for the Paris game since the start of the week, and we only started preparing for Sunday's game on Friday. We know all their players are dangerous, not only those three. Look at Ivan Čupić, one of the best wingers in the world. Genuinely, this team is strong in every position.

ehfCL.com: What is Chambéry missing that has stopped them winning any points so far in this VELUX EHF Champions League?
Edin Bašić: Not much.When we played Silkeborg we were three goals ahead ten minutes before the end of the game, and then we missed seven shots and every time we conceded a goal straight after. Every time it's the same thing and it becomes harder mentally. We put ourselves in a negative spiral and it's hard to get out of it. It's all about experience, once again. But we know that we have to push as hard as we can, because with a win we may reverse this run of defeats, go on to win more and maybe qualify for the next round.

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