Metalurg hit by Kozlina´s injury before match in Kielce

Any surprise against the Group C leader Vive Targi Kielce in the VELUX EHF Champion League Round 6 on Saturday will be harder to accomplish for Metalurg Skopje who will travel to Poland without Miladin Kozlina.

Slovenian left back hurt his knee on Tuesday in the Regional SEHA league match against HRK Izviđač Ljubuški. Doctors have concluded Kozlina has a stretched ligament, but magnetic resonance will be required to determine how much time he needs to recover.

For coach of Macedonian champions Lino Červar it would be an additional problem, because Naumče Mojsovski on the same position returned from an injury break just for the previous match. Červar will miss Slovenian especially in the defence where Kozlina plays one of crucial roles.

In the match against Izviđač, Kozlina started to complain about the injury in the 23 minute. He tried to fight the pain, but after a few minutes he returned to the bench where he spent the rest of the match with ice on his knee. Despite his injury Metalurg won 28:18 and are four points behind the SEHA leader HC Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb.

Milan Levov has been included in the squad heading for the match in Poland. In the previous round in Skopje, Kielce won 23:21 in front of 7,000 spectators in the ehfTV Match of the Week and maintained a perfect record of five victories in five matches.