'Our chances are still good' says Larvik's Riegelhuth Koren

It came as a surprise to many people in the world of handball that an injury depleted RK Krim Mercator was able to defeat Larvik HK 24:22 in the  first leg of the two teams' semi-final encounter in the Women's EHF Champions League.

It also surprised the players of Larvik who were particularly stunned by their disastrous start, which saw them first trailing 0:6 an then 9:16 at half-time.

However, the fact that they managed to work themselves back into the match and win the second half 13:8 has contributed to the Norwegian hope of still reaching the final.

To overcome the second leg in Ljubliana on Saturday, however, Larvik will have to make their game working throughout the entire 60 minutes, right winger Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren states in this interview with ehfcl.com.

The 28-year-old Norwegian international, who has scored 66 goals in the competition so far, will be one of Larvik's key players in the Slovenian capital where her international experience will come in useful for the Norwegian top team.

ehfcl.com: Why did you have such a poor start in the first match?

Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren: We simply got off to a bad start when we did not manage to make our game work. We allowed them to be too much in charge, and we became too passive ourselves.

ehfcl.com: Did their injury problems make you underestimate them?

Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren: No, I do not think we did. Actually, Krim came with all their players, apart from Linnea (Torstensson), so they did not have that many injuries after all. We had prepared well, but we simply did not manage to make things work from the start.

ehfcl.com: What was the reason why you managed to get back into the match in the second half?

Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren: We got our play going and started doing the things we had trained. At the same time we got the game under control. That will also be the way we will have to start in the return match.

ehfcl.com: How do you see your chances to win by the necessary amount of goals in Ljubliana to reach the final?

Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren: Our chances are good, but they depend on our ability to play in our own way and get the match played on our conditions.

Krim are a fine team with many good players, so we will have to play at our best to stand a chance. However, we believe that we can do just that, and we are really looking forward to that match.

On Wednesday, 10 April, Larvik HK won their 22nd consecutive match in the Norwegain league when they beat Våg Vipers Kristianssand on 30:23.