02.05.2014, 06:41
Fortunate to captain hometown’s team

Last part of the Women's EHF Champions League Legends series is dedicated to a player who is a hot candidate to lift the trophy again.

Fortunate to captain hometown’s team

For such a world class talent it seems like an unbelievably long struggle to finally lift the trophy but few would argue Anita Görbicz thoroughly deserved to win the EHF Champions League when she led her hometown club to their first international trophy in 2013.

"I’d been trying to reach the top for such a long time I even started to lose faith that I’d ever win a gold medal. Especially when we lost in the Champions League final against Buducnost two years ago on away goals. Frankly, I thought I was cursed and never meant to win anything – Görbicz told ehfcl.com.

Hard to digest

The playmaker claims she is still fortunate to captain her hometown’s team and in spite of the near misses of the past she loves to think back the time she spent with Győri Audi ETO KC. "Everytime you lose a final you need to think about what you did wrong. There’s no use crying over spilt milk. You just draw your conclusions and try to work harder to eliminate the factor of luck, which is always dangerous to rely on.”

Before winning the Champions League last season Győr had lost seven European cup finals, no wonder Görbicz started to lose faith after Győr lost in Podgorica in 2012. "Buducnost had an excellent team, one would normally accept a defeat but after all I’d been through I felt horrible because I felt we had a better team. Losing a final on away goals is the hardest thing to digest.”

"And then Ambros Martin came along.”

7th time lucky

Görbicz thought Csaba Konkoly was an outstanding coach but the last piece of Győr’s puzzle, which had been put together along bitter defeats, was coach Ambros Martin. "We’d expected Ambros to be different but the way he started to work with us was just amazing. He convinced us to forget about past defeats and concentrate only to the nex step. This worked just fine for us.”

Győr stormed through last year’s campaign and played wonderful handball on their way to the final. The only hickup was the semi-final home defeat to Valcea after a convincing win in Romania but after a thrilling run-in they once again found themselves in just one step away from victory.

"Last year was different. We just knew we would win it, there was simply no way we could lose that final. Not because we won the first leg in Larvik (been there, done that and still went down in 2009 vs. Viborg) but because we felt that trophy belonged to us.”

Győr started preparations for the MVM EHF FINAL4 with the succesfull quest of defending the title of the Hungarian Cup. The defending champions started analysing videos of Midtjylland after they won the Cup vs. Ferencváros but not about the other two teams. "Ambros Martin likes to take one thing at the time. We wouldn’t be able to prepare anyway as the other semi final will be an almost unpredictable, really fierce encounter. But for me Buducnost is a touch ahead of Vardar."

TEXT: Bence Martha / br