15.03.2007, 12:42
Aalborg in great disadvantage

Injuries tropuble the Aalborg team. Matilda Boson (pictured) is also not sure to play, but Jan Leslie is calm and says that they are already satisfied with their CL season.

Aalborg in great disadvantage

Aalborg DH will miss one of their most important players in the upcoming Champions League quarterfinals against Hypo Niederösterreich.

Aalborg may even have to play without three key players in the Sunday’s first leg. The Norwegian international Kristine Lunde has been suffering from a shoulder injury for a long time and though she played for several months with the injury her condition deteriorated. The problem has become so bad that the experienced backcourt player must stop for an unknown period.

Doubts about Matilda Boson and Johanna Wiberg

Lunde’s absence will burden extra responsibility for the only 18-year old playmaker, Lærke Møller. She has shown an impressive form in some of Aalborg’s recent matches. As an acknowledgement of her talent, she was awarded the Handball Player of the year title in North Jutland.

While Lunde is definitely out for both quarterfinals, there is still some hope that the two Swedish internationals – Matilda Boson and Johanna Wiberg – may be fit for the first match.

Left winger Boson has hip problems, while the pivot Wiberg suffers from a hand injury.

“I estimate Wiberg’s chances for the Sunday match around 50-50, while those of Boson are a bit more than 50-50,” Aalborg coach Jan Leslie told Eurohandball.com.

The match will be a great experience

“Taking in consideration the fact that we do not know what team we can actually send on to the court on Sunday, we see the match as a great experience for us. We can cause only positive surprise and the outcome of the quarterfinal is not important, we are proud to have come this far in the tournament,” Jan Leslie added.

Aalborg passed the last test before the quarterfinals. The team won their last home match in the domestic league against GOG Svendborg TGI by 23-22 on Wednesday – though Lunde, Boson and Wiberg were missing. Aalborg are now third in the league.

TEXT: Peter Bruun