Nielsen will miss first match in Jysk Arena

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg will be missing their right back Nikolaj Øris Nielsen for their crucial VELUX EHF Champions League match against St. Petersburg Sunday afternoon.

The hard-shooting left handed backcourt players injured his left thumb in a match of the Danish league Wednesday night, and even though the injury is not particularly serious he will not be fit in time for Sunday.

“The thumb got torn, and I had to go to the hospital, but there is no damage to the bones or to the muscles,” Nikolaj Øris Nielsen explained to DR Sporten.

After their 35:23 away against the Russian runners-up on Sunday, the Danish top team is huge favourite before the home game, even without Øris Nielsen, but still the injury annoys head coach Carsten Albrektsen.

“Nikolaj is an important player to us, also in the defense and in our fast breaks, so this is definitely not an injury we welcome”, Albrektsen said.

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg have beaten rivals Skjern, KIF Kolding and Sønderjyske in the last three matches in the Danish league, and are now the leaders of the Danish league.

Especially the 28:18 victory against previously unbeaten KIF Kolding was a shock in the Danish handball world.

“The result from last Sunday could imply that it would be an easy match for us, but we know how difficult it is to play in the Champions League. We played well last weekend but this is a new match and we need to be focused every time we play in this tournament,” the head coach added.

Looking towards Sundays match in Silkeborg the coach is confident, but he is always looking for things to improve. “We need to look at the video from last time and find the things we need to be better at. But there is no doubt that we can use the momentum from the latest games in a positive way,” Albrektsen concluded.

The match against St. Petersborg will be Bjerringbro-Silkeborg´s first match in the European top flight on their normal home ground, Jysk Arena which has been extended and modernized over the summer and autumn. Therefore the Danes have played their first two home matches in the VELUX EHF Champions League this season in near-by Arena Kjellerup.