23.05.2009, 04:58
Ciudad confident despite injuries

Stefansson and Fernandez are both thinking positively before the first leg of the Final in Kiel.

Ciudad confident despite injuries

The days before the CL Final were unlucky for Ciudad Real. As reported earlier on ehfCL.com, the Slovenian Pajovic cannot play the Final because of a wrist injury.

In the last days of the preparation for the game, the Danish line player of Ciudad Real, Torsten Laen has also picked up an injury. The player twisted his right ankle during a training session and he will be out for the next three weeks. It means that he will have to skip both legs of the CL Final.

There is one more similarity between Pajovic and Laen: they will both leave the team at the end of the season and none of them will be able to say goodbye with a memorable performance to their clubs. Laen will play for Fusche Berlin and leave all the duties in the pivot position to Rutenka.

Ciudad arrive in Kiel

All players – including the injured ones – have arrived to the venue of the first leg game, Kiel. The players will have a training session in the Sparkassen Arena on Saturday evening.

The confidence of the players is right before the final. The French Olympic champion, Jerome Fernandez confirms this:

“We are very well prepared physically and mentally as well,” he says. “We have just won the Spanish title and it gave us a lot of confidence.”

“It is not easy to win in Kiel as they are a great team, one of the greatest teams all time. I believe that if we go there to win we cannot lose by more than two goals. But if we go there for a modest defeat, we will get away with minus 10 goals,” Fernandez explained.

“You must not be thinking about anything just give all you can. In our current form we can achieve a good result there,” he concluded.

The recipe of Stefansson

The Icelandic star of the Spanish side, Olafur Stefansson, also knows what it takes to win trophies. He gained it already with Magdeburg and also with Ciudad Real before. His secret is the following:

“To win the game you have to want the victory. We must play equal games and we have to be ready. We must learn from the games we played in the Main Round this season. Now we will have to be stronger and I believe we can make it. We were able to beat Barcelona not long ago and we will have to fight like the lions on Sunday.”

TEXT: Fernando Urra Goni