30.10.2014, 03:30
Time for a remake of the 2009 final

GROUP C PREVIEW: Viborg HK and Györi Audi ETO KC meet in a revenge match for the 2008-09 Women´s Champions League final, while IK Sävehof and HC Lokomotiva Zagreb struggle for their first points in Group C.

Time for a remake of the 2009 final

When Viborg HK receive Györ Audi ETO KC in Viborg Stadionhal Sunday afternoon, it will not only be the top match in Group C of the Women's EHF Champions League.

It will also be a remake of the 2008/09 final and Györ will be the team seeking revenge, although they will miss their brightest star for the rest of the season.

The situation is different for IK Sävehof and HC Lokomotiva Zagreb who meet in Sweden already Friday night. As Györ and Viborg seem to be heading for the main round, this match may give an indication as to which team is going to follow them.

GROUP C

IK Sävehof (SWE) vs HC Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO)
Friday 31 October at 19.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV

Both teams have opened their EHF Champions League campaign with big defeats against the two apparent top teams in the group, Györ and Viborg, and therefore this match in Partillebohallen in Sweden may give an indication as to which team of Sävehof and Lokomotiva is going to follow the two top teams to the main round.

While Lokomotiva are Champions League debutants, Sävehof have lots of Champions League experience, and the question is, if the Swedish champions can make this experience and the home advantage count in their favour Friday evening.

“We have had two very tough matches against really good teams, but we know that we can perform much better than we have done so far,” Sävehof coach Henrik Signell tells ehfCL.com.

“Zagreb is also a tough opponent, but we intend to better than in our latest match against Györ, and I believe in our chance to win against Zagreb,” adds Henrik Signell.

Lokomotiva coach Irfan Smajlagic emphasises the importance of still having a home match against Sävehof in case of a loss in Sweden.

“My expectations are that we play according to our possibilities. I would like us to play the game according to our quality, and automatically I think that this will give us a positive result in this game. If we lose, we still have the match in Zagreb which will decide everything,” Irfan Smajlagic tells ehfCL.com.

Viborg HK (DEN) vs Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN)
Sunday 2 November at 17.00 hrs local time, live on ehfTV

The match in Viborg Stadionhal will not only be the top match in Group C, but also a remake of the Women´s EHF Champions League final of the 2008-09 season.

Back then, the first match on the 9. May had been moved to the Gigantium Ice Arena of Aalborg, due to the spectator capacity.

In front of 5,600 spectators, Györ won 26:24, even without injured star player Anita Görbicz, but in that final tie, the home advantage turned out to be the opposite, a disadvantage.

In the return match which had also been moved – from Györ to the Veszprém Arena, which was filled with 5,100 spectators - Viborg won 26:23 and took their second Champions League title in history.

Therefore, Györ will be the ones seeking revenge in Viborg Stadionhal Sunday afternoon.

However, more important than the revenge will undoubtedly be the two points which are at stake.

Judging by the results from the first two rounds of the group phase, there does not seem to be much doubt that both teams will reach the main round, but as the teams, who qualify for the main round, take the points from their internal matches with them, a win in this match will probably be crucial to both teams.

By Viborg, left back and defence specialist Rikke Skov is the only player of today´s team who was also part of the finals back in 2009, while goalkeeper Orsolya Herr, centre back Aniko Kovacics and right back Agnes Boczko-Hornyak were all part of the Györ team in those finals five years ago.

Just like the final back then, Anita Görbicz is also going to miss this match against Viborg. Not due to injury this time, but because she is pregnant and will be missing the rest of the season.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / br