Home teams chasing four goal deficits

The home teams are trailing four goals ahead of both second leg matches of the Women's Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals this weekend.

RK Krim Mercator are receiving Handball Club Lada being down 28:24 after the first match, while Team Tvis Holstebro are chasing a 24:20 defeat after their visit to Issy Paris Hand.

RK Krim Mercator (SLO) vs Handball Club Lada (RUS)
Saturday 9 April, 17.00 local time

Four goals are usually no big deal in international cup ties and Krim will undoubtedly feel rather optimistic before taking on Lada in Ljubljana on Saturday afternoon.

In the first match between the two teams was quite close, Krim were actually leading 14:13 at half time in Togliatti. It was only in the second half, that Lada, spurred on by 2700 spectators, created the four goal lead, they are taking with them to Slovenia.

It is far from being the first time that those two big traditional clubs meet.

One of the most dramatic ties between them was the quarter-final of the Women's EHF Champions League in the 2005/06 season. On that occasion, Krim proceeded to the semi-final due to more away goals.

Lada won 36:29 at home, but only to be sent out after the return match, which Krim won 25:18. Will it be just as close this time?

Team Tvis Holstebro (DEN) vs Issy Paris Hand (FRA)
Sunday 10 April, 19.00 local time

Last season, Team Tvis Holstebro won the Women's EHF Cup, just like they did two years before that.

Issy Paris do not have any European titles yet, but they have the chance to reach the final of the Cup Winners# Cup for the second time within three years, taking a four goal lead with them to Denmark after the first match at home last Sunday.

However, Pablo Morel, heach coach of Paris is well aware that things are far from decided yet: "At this stage of the competition, there is a small gap between the teams."

"We know the value of Holstebro, we know they play fast and well, and we also know that they are formidable at home," Pablo Morel tells eurohandball.com.

"The first leg was important to impose our rhythm and show that we were ready to fight. However, our four goal lead is not enough for us to even hope to proceed to the final. The return match will be very different from the first leg, I think, as Holstebro are likely to take more tactical risks and increase their speed," adds Morel.

Holstebro's Swedish coach Pether Krautmeyer also still believes very much in his team's chances: "If we go out and play our own game – not theirs – it will definitely be possible."

"After the first match, I left the court with the feeling, that we lost to a smarter team, but that we were actually the better team. I believe that we can control the return match," Krautmeyer told Team Tvis Holstebro's website.