Debutants vs. record winners

The action on the court in the LANXESS arena will start on Saturday: In the first semi-final of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 2013 the event debutants Vive Targi Kielce will face EHF Champions League record winner FC Barcelona Intersport , who won the trophy seven times since 1996 and already had won the Champions’ Cup competition once, the forerunner of the EHF Champions League.

VELUX EHF FINAL4, semi-final 1:
KS Vive Targi Kielce vs FC Barcelona Intersport

The match will be thrown off at 15:15 hrs. local times and will be streamed live with English commentary on ehfTV.com.

Despite the long tradition and the successful history the players of Catalan club do not consider themselves for favourites.

“The chances are 50:50, Kielce are a highly strong team with experienced players, and they only lost one of 14 matches by now in the Champions League, which proofs their strength,” said defence expert Viran Morros, who won the trophy already twice with his former club Ciudad Real. Barcelona was defeated twice in this season, by Berlin in the Group Phase and Madrid in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

Kielce are not only proud to be the first ever Polish team in the semi-final of the major club competition, but also are eager to show that the semi-final is not their final destination. “We are no tourists in Cologne,” said coach Bogdan Wenta, who has great memories on the LANXESS arena, as he led the Polish national team to the silver medal at the 2007 World Championship.

And although the club is debutant at the VELUX EHF FINAL4, some players already had experience to be part of the event, as in total five of them already played with their former teams Rhein Neckar Löwen and HSV Hamburg at the 2011 edition.

And Kielce even has a three times EHF Champions League winner in their squad: Uroš Zorman, trophy holder in 2004 with RK Celje and 2008 and 2009 with Ciudad Real. Goalkeeper Venio Losert was a member of  the Barcelona team in a EHF Champions League final. And the Croat is not the only former Barca players, as also Wenta played for the Catalan in his active career.

Both teams have met twice in the history of the competition, Kielce sensationally took a draw in the 2010/11 Group Phase at Palau Blaugrana (28:28) after losing the first leg 26:33 on home ground. The overall Kielce balance against Spanish teams is negative with two wins, the mentioned draw against Barcelona and seven defeats.

On the other hand, Barcelona never lost a single match against a Polish team in any international competition but won three times and tied once. Since the implementation of the EHF Champions League in the 1993/94 season FC Barcelona had reached the semi-final for the eleventh times in their club history. They made it all the way to Cologne for the third time after 2010 (final loser against Kiel) and 2011 (winning the final against Atlético Madrid).

Both opponents just became domestic champions in their leagues, both have no major injuries. And both teams can count on goalkeepers, who became World Handball Player of the Year: Arpad Sterbik (2005, Barcelona, the only player who is part of the VELUX EHF FINAL4 for the fourth time) and Sawomir Szmal (2010, Kielce).

Barcelona’s top scorer Siarhei Rutenka (currently 79 goals) is not only aiming for the third top scorer crown of this competition, but also is eager to reach his individual eighth Champions League final after five trophies with Celje (2004), Ciudad Real (2006, 2008, 2009) and 2011 (Barcelona) and two additional finals with Ciudad Real (2005) and FC Barcelona (2010).