Christiansen wants to finish in style

Right back Mads Christiansen wants to at least take Team Tvis Holstebro on from the EHF Cup Group Phase before leaving for Bjerringbro-Silkeborg.
With 49 internationals for Denmark and numerous EHF Champions League matches for AaB Håndbold before joining Team Tvis Holstebro in the summer of 2011, Mads Christiansen is one of the internationally experienced players in the Holstebro team who opened their EHF Cup Group Phase campaign with a draw at home against RK Branik Maribor last Sunday.

“As a club we have not got much experience with this kind of matches, but we are some players, including myself, in the club who have tried quite a bit, in the national team as well as in the Champions League.

"And of course we try to contribute with all the experience we have, especially in tight situations,” Christiansen told eurohandball.com.

In their opening match in Group C, Team Tvis Holstebro were leading 6:1 and 9:3 in the first half, and were up with three goals shortly before the end of the match, but still Maribor managed to get the 26:26 draw.

“We forgot to play handball after our fine start. We became too passive and neglected the fast break phase, while we let them run the fast breaks.

"The result was pretty frustrating, as we may very well get into a battle with Maribor for the second place in the group,” found the 26 year old right back who may be in for the ultimate test together with his team-mates Saturday night, when Holstebro play away against Orlen Wisla Plock.

“That will be a completely different kind of game, where we are likely to get under a lot of pressure. Of course I have noticed that they only won narrowly away against Elverum in their first match (27:25) but I am sure that they are a completely different team at home than they are away. Unlike our match against Maribor, though, there will be no pressure on us this time, and I hope we can benefit from that.”

This season is Christiansen´s second in Team Tvis Holstebro, and it will also be his last. This summer he will be joining current VELUX EHF Champions League participant Bjerringbro-Silkeborg. He hopes that this change can boost his chances for a comeback in the national team, from which he has been absent for quite a while now.

“I am really looking forward to joining Bjerringbro-Silkeborg. It is a club who is in a European competition every year. I hope to return to the national team soon, and those international matches will be a good way for me to advertise my skills.

First I want to finish in style in Team Tvis Holstebro, however – by qualifying for the at least the semi-finals in the play-offs for the Danish championship and to go on from the group phase in the EHF Cup,” Mads Christiansen told eurohandball.com.