The two smallest towns to clash
It will be two teams representing the two smallest towns in the entire VELUX EHF Champions League who meet, when Elverum Handball Herrer face Skjern Handbold in an early match in Group D.
HCM Baia Mare are chasing their first VELUX EHF Champions League win at home against HC Motor Zaporozhye, and HC Metalurg and Kadetten Schaffhausen are chasing their first points of the season when they meet in Skopje.
GROUP D
HC Metalurg (MKD) vs Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI)
Saturday 26 September 17.30 local time, live on ehfTV
Neither Metalurg nor Kadetten got off to a successful start in the group phase.
Metalurg lost 30:24 away to Motor Zaporozhye, while Kadetten suffered a narrow 31:30 defeat at home against Elverum.
However, Lino Cervar, head coach by Metalurg, does not appear too put off by his team’s opening defeat.
"The match against Motor was very good and useful for us. It was a great opportunity for our young players to get some experience at the highest handball level.
“It was a very good feel for our upcoming match against Kadetten. We are working hard this week to improve our game and cut out the mistakes, which we made in Kiev.
“We want to play good match against Kadetten, especially because we will play in our hall and in front of our fans.
“I cannot say we are favorites but we will do our best to make this the first win this season.
“If we do this, it would be great motivation for us, " Cervar tells ehfCL.com.
His adversary, Markus Baur realises that his Swiss champions are under pressure already.
“After our opening defeat at home against Elverum, we are in need of points away in order to hold onto our chance of getting one of the two top positions.
“Knowing that there are easier tasks than winning in Skopje, we will do everything to perform well, put our opponent under pressure and to bring a result with us back to Schaffhausen,” says the Kadetten coach.
Elverum Handball Herrer (NOR) vs Skjern Handbold (DEN)
Sunday 27 September 15.15 local time, live on ehfTV
It will be the teams representing the two smallest towns in the entire group phase, who meet in Terningen Arena in Elverum.
With a population of less than 8,000, Skjern is by far smallest town in the competition, while Elverum with 18,000 makes the Norwegian town second smallest.
Skjern won 32:28 at home against HCM Baia Mare, while Elverum won 31:30 away against Kadetten Schaffhausen.
The achievement is respected by Skjern coach Ole Norgaard:
“I was very impressed by Elverum’s win in Schaffhausen. They were virtually leading the whole time and played a very good game too.
“I expect a very difficult match, also because it is always difficult to play away in the Champions League. If you go three or four goals behind, it is almost impossible to get back into the game,” finds Ole Norgaard.
However, he may be more optimistic when he hears about the injury problems, Elverum are facing.
The home team will be missing several players for the Sunday match. Among them is Serbian playmaker Luka Mitrovic, who did not only score the winning goal against Kadetten, but who was also top scorer in the match with nine goals.
Mitrovic injured himself in a Norwegian Cup match Wednesday evening.
“Of course, our win in Switzerland has given us self-confidence, but we are severely hit by injury, and I am expecting an extremely tough challenge against Skjern with all the great players they have.
“However, we have everything to win and nothing to lose, and we have a whole town supporting us,” Elverum coach Mikael Apelgren tells ehfCL.com.
HCM Baia Mare (ROU) vs HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR)
Sunday 27 September 18.00 local time, live on ehfTV
Two teams, which both had very different starts to their Champions League campaigns meet in the Sala Polivalenta Lascar Panar.
Motor travel confidently to Romania after a 30:24 win against Metalurg while Baia Mare lost their Champions League debut 32:28 away to Skjern.
Baia Mare coach Lars Walther expects another tough task ahead for his men when they play their first Champions League match ever on home ground.
“Motor is together with Skjern one of the big contenders in this group. They have proved themselves over past few
seasons in Champions League.
“So it will be a very tough match for us.
“They have a really tough defense with a lot of very strong players.
“So we have to make them move to find solutions in their defense. So we have to play much faster than we have done lately.
“In attack, they have a lot of shooting power with Burka and Shelmenko, so we cannot stay back and wait for them.
“We have to put them under pressure. Malasinkas in the middle is a very good player.
“Despite all the nice words, we believe we can put them under pressure and with help from our loyal fans, anything is possible,” says Lars Walther.
TEXT: Peter Bruun / bc
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