06.05.2008, 09:20
Laen still believes

The Danish player talks to Eurohandball.com with optimism in his voice. There are many players in Ciudad who can decide a game alone, he says.

Laen still believes 

In spite of being two goals behind after the first leg played at home, Torsten Laen is not desperate. The Danish line player still believes that Ciudad Real have a chance to win the Champions League against THW Kiel.

The Dane had a tough game on the 6-m line at the first game, but he still he managed to do well and score four goals against Kiel. “We learned a lot from that match and we can use it at the return game,” Laen told Eurohandball.com 

Eurohandball.com: What went wrong in the first leg?

Torsten Laen: Our attacking play was far from good enough. We were doing okay in defence and we kept Kiel under 30 goals, which is acceptable. At the same time, we were not enough efficient in attack. In addition, Kiel have some players who can quickly decide a game – enough to mention Nicola Karabatic…

Eurohandball.com: You actually managed to take the lead back in the second half and you were leading by two. What was missing at that point?

Torsten Laen: We missed too many shots against Omeyer in that phase of the match and it caused too much stress for us. 

Eurohandball.com: Do you think you can win by two or three goals in the Sparkassen Arena?

Torsten Laen: I think a lot will depend on how we can stick to our own game. Of course, it will be extremely difficult to win by three goals with so much pressure coming from the tribunes in Kiel, but we have a lot of great individual players who can decide a match alone.

Eurohandball.com: In fact, these players failed to do in Ciudad Real. What do you think can be decisive in front of over 10.000 German fans in Kiel?

Torsten Laen: We played successfully against teams playing in pretty much the same way as Kiel do. For instance, Barcelona have a similar team play and we have defeated them several times. We will definitely have a chance, but then again, it will be terribly difficult!

TEXT: Peter Bruun