Lunde: This trophy is for our fans

Her 22 saves paved the way for the first ever international title of Györi Audi ETO KC and Katrine Lunde was the big hero after the successful rematch in the Women’s EHF Champions League final, won by Györ 23:22 after the 24:21 victory in the first leg one week ago.

In this interview with ehfCL.com, Norwegian international Lunde talks about winning her third title after 2009 and 2010 with Danish side Viborg HK and the Nordic mentality.

ehfCL.com: What was the key to success today?

Katrine Lunde: The starting period was great. Intermediately we were tumbling a bit, but our defence was strong enough to withstand the pressure.

ehfCL.com: In 2009 you won your first ever trophy in the EHF Champions League with Viborg HK in Veszprém, now you are the winner with the home team. What was the bigger success?

Katrine Lunde: The present is always the greatest, so of course today is the best day to win this trophy at home. Finally it is always good to win a title, but in this case it is a really special title for the club and I am proud to be part of this team.

ehfCL.com: Did you ever think about the curse that Györ lost seven finals before during the match?

Katrine Lunde: I did not think about it, I did not read any newspapers in the last weeks; I never have this past on my mind. I am always a very positive person – so my thoughts were like this: Györ can make it, and now the time has come. Last year we missed it by one goal against Podgorica, this year everything was perfect, a really perfect season.

ehfCL.com: Were you sure for the whole match that Györ would come out on top?

Katrine Lunde Haraldsen: Sometimes I thought that Larvik might win the match, but never that they could win the final after the result of the first leg (24:21 for Györ). But really, during the match I had some thoughts that it was not going well, but then we improved again and again.

ehfCL.com: You had been Olympic, world, European and EHF Champions League champion before – what’s the worth of the trophy you won today?

Katrine Lunde: It is not comparable. This trophy is so special for me, but even more for our fans. They live for handball, so it is a great feeling to bring them this satisfaction they had been waiting for so long. They wanted us to be on the podium and now they can be as happy as we are.

ehfCL.com: How big was the impact of the famous Norwegian winner’s mentality of you and Heidi Löke to win this trophy?

Katrine Lunde: I arrived here to win the Champions League – and I reached it without extending my contract. Norwegians are highly focused; this is what maybe our teammates can learn from us.

We tell them how we see things, we tell them how we won titles – and they can take what they need to be successful. But we have so many mentalities in our team, that each of us can take the best from all of them.