09.01.2013, 02:39
BLOG: Different from the sun in Martinique

Mathieu Grébille blogs about his knee injury, Montpellier's Group Phase run-in, his Christmas holidays, and France at the World Championship

BLOG: Different from the sun in Martinique 

Mathieu Grébille is the new rising star of the French handball. After being noticed last year during the quarter-final against Barcelona, he was now the top scorer of his team from Montpellier in this season's VELUX EHF Champions League before suffering a sprained knee on 11 November. The gifted youngster, who could be one of the best players of his generation, writes his second blog for ehfCL.com.

The knee injury
My knee is slowly getting better. I can partially bend it, and it is not swollen anymore, so it is slowly getting better. I don't have a precise date for my comeback on the court but I should start playing handball again around mid-January.

VELUX EHF Champions League
We've got three games left. We go to Leon, we host Chekhov, then we go to Hamburg. It's not going to be easy, but no game is easy in the Champions League anyway.

I think we've really got the ability to make it to the next phase, but it's not going to be an easy task. We made it a little bit hard on ourselves by losing some matches that we should have won. We've got to win the three matches, it's going to be tough, but possible.

The mood in Montpellier's changing room
I'm a bit removed from the squad at the moment, because of my knee injury, so I'm not the best person to talk about the changing room.

Of course, it's normal if there was some tension when the players came back [after being suspended]. We lived through some unusual things, separated from each other, so meeting again was awkward.

But things have gotten gradually better, because we are professional players. We can see that on the court, the team is coming back to its real level.

End of the year celebrations
Usually, at the end of every year, I go back home to Martinique. But because of my knee, I had to stay in Montpellier. So I spent Christmas in Grenoble, where I've got family that I don't see very often.

It's different from the sun in Martinique but I always enjoy seeing family. In the New Year, it all came together very quickly so I shouldn't be here. I've got some friends from when I played with the U18 team in Montpellier who now play in Nancy and Nimes [2nd division French teams]. So we met in Nimes to enjoy the New Year.

The World Championships in Spain
France has got a strong team, as usual I'd say. For some guys, it's their last big competition so they've got a great opportunity to win and that would be such a beautiful way to go. That's all I wish for them.

I would really have liked to be part of the squad, but I've had this bad luck with my knee. I really hope they'll be able to win, like they did so many times in the past. Denmark have got a very strong team as well, and Spain at home will be very hard to defeat.

TEXT: Mathieu Grebille, Montpellier Agglomération HB left back